New sequencing technologies and high-resolution microarray analysis have revealed genome-wide pervasive transcription in many eukaryotes, generating a large number of RNAs of no coding capacity. The focus of current debate is whether many of these non-coding RNAs are functional, and if so, what their function is. In this review, we describe recent discoveries in the field of non-coding RNAs in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Newly identified non-coding RNAs in this budding yeast, their functions in gene regulation and possible mechanisms of action are discussed
