Enhancer RNAs: the new molecules of transcription

In the past few years, technological advances in nucleotide sequencing have culminated in a greater understanding of the complexity of the human transcriptome. Notably, the discovery that distal regulatory elements known as enhancers are transcribed and such enhancer-derived transcripts (eRNAs) serve a critical function in transcriptional activation has added a new dimension to transcriptional regulation. Here we review recent insights into the tissue-specific and temporal-specific gene regulation brought about by the discovery of eRNAs.