Discovery and characterization of the first non-coding RNA that regulates gene expression, micF RNA: A historical perspective

Table 1 Discovery of other non-coding RNA functions

Non-coding RNA	Date discovered	Function	Ref.
RNase P RNA	1978, 1983	Catalytic RNA	[73,74]
Tetrahymena intron	1982	RNA self-splicing	[75]
snRNA	1982	Involved in RNA splicing	[76]
7SL RNA	1982	Participates in protein translocation	[77]

Table 2 Discovery of regulatory non-coding RNA functions

Non-coding RNA (prokaryotic)	Date determined to be a regulator	Function	Ref.
ColE I RNA I	1981	Inhibits DNA replication	[32,33]
micF RNA	1984/1987	Inhibits ompF mRNA + other mRNAs	[8-10]
6S RNA	2000	Binds RNA polymerase (transcription inhibitor)	[18]
Spot 42	2002	Inhibits galK mRNA + other mRNAs	[20]
Non-coding RNA (eukaryotic)
lin 4	1993	Inhibits lin14	[12]
7SK RNA	2004	Binds pTEFb (transcription inhibitor)	[23]