The GENCODE catalog is highly specific in its subcategorization of protein-coding and noncoding transcripts highlighting transcripts subject to phenomena such as NMD and nonstop decay (Mazzoni and Falcone 2011). Interestingly mass spectrometry analysis within the project has identified four transcripts, annotated to be subject to NMD, that produce peptides. A recent publication by Bruno et al. (2011) has identified a brain-specific microRNA (miR-128) that represses the NMD pathway by binding to the RNA helicase UPF1. Thus suggesting certain miRNAs can induce cell-specific transcription/translation during development by inhibition of the NMD pathway.
