Advances in computational biology and large-scale transcriptome analyses have revealed that a much larger portion of the genome is transcribed than was previously recognized, resulting in the production of a diverse population of RNA molecules with both protein-coding and noncoding potential. Emerging evidence indicates that several RNA molecules have been mis-annotated as noncoding and in fact harbor short open reading frames (sORFs) that encode functional peptides and that have evaded detection until now due to their small size. sORF-encoded peptides (SEPs), or micropeptides, have been shown to have important roles in fundamental biological processes and in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. These small proteins can act independently, for example as ligands or signaling molecules, or they can exert their biological functions by engaging with and modulating larger regulatory proteins. Given their small size, micropeptides may be uniquely suited to fine-tune complex biological systems.

计算生物学和大规模转录组分析的进展表明，转录的基因组部分比以前公认的要多，从而产生了具有蛋白质编码和非编码潜能的各种RNA分子。越来越多的证据表明，一些RNA分子被错误地标注为非编码，并且实际上带有短开放阅读框（sORF），它们编码功能性肽，但由于其体积小，至今仍未进行检测。sORF编码的肽（SEP）或微肽已显示出在基本生物学过程和维持细胞稳态中的重要作用。这些小蛋白可以独立发挥作用，例如作为配体或信号分子，或者它们可以通过与较大的调节蛋白结合并调节其功能来发挥其生物学功能。考虑到它们的小尺寸，微肽可能特别适合微调复杂的生物系统。