U6atac minor spliceosomal RNA is a non-coding RNA

Non-coding RNA

A non-coding RNA is a functional RNA molecule that is not translated into a protein. Less-frequently used synonyms are non-protein-coding RNA , non-messenger RNA and functional RNA . The term small RNA is often used for short bacterial ncRNAs...

 which is an essential component of the minor U12-type spliceosome

Minor spliceosome

The minor spliceosome is a ribonucleoprotein complex that catalyses the removal of an atypical class of spliceosomal introns from eukaryotic messenger RNAs in plant, insects, vertebrates and some fungi . This process is called noncanonical splicing, as opposed to U2-dependent canonical splicing...

 complex. The U12-type spliceosome is required for removal of the rarer class of eukaryotic introns (AT-AC, U12-type) .

U6atac snRNA is proposed to form a base-paired complex with another spliceosomal RNA U4atac

U4atac minor spliceosomal RNA

U4atac minor spliceosomal RNA is a ncRNA which is an essential component of the minor U12-type spliceosome complex. The U12-type spliceosome is required for removal of the rarer class of eukaryotic introns ....

 via two stem loop regions. These interacting stem loops have been shown to be required for in vivo

In vivo

In vivo is experimentation using a whole, living organism as opposed to a partial or dead organism, or an in vitro controlled environment. Animal testing and clinical trials are two forms of in vivo research...

 splicing

RNA splicing

In molecular biology and genetics, splicing is a modification of an RNA after transcription, in which introns are removed and exons are joined. This is needed for the typical eukaryotic messenger RNA before it can be used to produce a correct protein through translation...

 . U6atac is the functional analog of U6 spliceosomal RNA

U6 spliceosomal RNA

U6 snRNA is the non-coding small nuclear RNA component of U6 snRNP , an RNA-protein complex that combines with other snRNPs, unmodified pre-mRNA, and various other proteins to assemble a spliceosome, a large RNA-protein molecular complex upon which splicing of pre-mRNA occurs...

 in
the major U2-type spliceosomal

Spliceosome

A spliceosome is a complex of snRNA and protein subunits that removes introns from a transcribed pre-mRNA segment. This process is generally referred to as splicing.-Composition:...

complex.