Runsheng Chen, Institute of Biophysics

and Development of CAS, China

陈润生，中国科学院生物物理研究所蛋白质工程研究室主任、研究员、博士生导师。中国生物物理学会常务理事；中国物理学会理事；国际人类基 因组组织（ HUGO ）委员；国际数据库组织（ CODATA ）生物大分子专业组委员。国际纯粹及应用物理学会（ IUPAP ）生物信息学专业委员会委员；曾任国际纯粹及应用物理学会（ IUPAP ）生物物理专业委员会委员 (1992-1996) ；中国生物物理学会秘书长、副理事长。陈润生研究员由于在基因组信息学和蛋白质三维结构模拟领域的贡献， 1996 年 10 月 3 日 在日本筑波召开的第十五届 CODATA 国际学术大 会上被授予 “ 小谷正雄 ” 奖。

More details can be found here([1],[2],[3],[4],[5],[6]).

Tentative Title: Conserved distances between vertebrate highly conserved elements

Abstract: Recent evidence points to considerable transcription occurring in non-protein-coding regions of eukaryote genomes.However, their lack of conservation and demonstrated function have created controversy over whether thesetranscripts are functional. Applying a novel cloning strategy, we have cloned 100 novel and 61 known or predicted Caenorhabditis elegans full-length ncRNAs. Studying the genomic environment and transcriptional characteristics have shown that two-thirds of all ncRNAs, including many intronic snoRNAs, are independently transcribed under the control of ncRNA-specific upstream promoter elements. Furthermore, the transcription levels of at least 60% of the ncRNAs vary with developmental stages. We identified two new classes of ncRNAs, stem–bulge RNAs (sbRNAs) and snRNA-like RNAs (snlRNAs), both featuring distinct internal motifs, secondary structures, upstream elements, and high and developmentally variable expression. Most of the novel ncRNAs are conserved in Caenorhabditis briggsae, but only one homolog was found outside the nematodes. Preliminary estimates indicate that the C. elegans transcriptome contains ~2700 small non-coding RNAs, potentially acting as regulatory elements in nematode development.