RNA traffic control of chromatin complexes

It is widely accepted that the genome is regulated by histone modifications that induce epigenetic changes on the genome. However, it is still not understood how ubiquitously expressed chromatin modifying complexes are ‘guided’ to specific genomic sites to induce intricate patterns of epigenetic modifications. Previously believed to represent ‘genome junk’, it is now becoming increasingly clear that large non-coding RNAs associate with chromatin modifying complexes. Here we explore an intriguing hypothesis that large non-coding RNA molecules might represent a molecular trafficking system that modulates chromatin modifying complexes to establish specific epigenetic landscapes.