ncRNA transcription makes its mark

A recently recognized strategy for gene regulation involves transcription of a non-coding RNA (ncRNA) transcript that overlaps the gene targeted for regulation. In many cases, it seems that it is the act of transcription itself rather than the ncRNA transcript that mediates regulation. A paper in this issue of the EMBO Journal shows one mechanism by which these transcription events regulate transcription; elongating RNA polymerases direct a set of regulatory histone modifications that modulate expression of an overlapping gene.