Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2012 Aug;40(14):6391-400.
doi: 10.1093/nar/gks296. Epub 2012 Apr 5.

Emerging functional and mechanistic paradigms of mammalian long non-coding RNAs

Victoria A Moran  1 , Ranjan J Perera, Ahmad M Khalil
Affiliations
Review

Emerging functional and mechanistic paradigms of mammalian long non-coding RNAs

Victoria A Moran et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 2012 Aug.

Abstract

The recent discovery that the human and other mammalian genomes produce thousands of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) raises many fascinating questions. These mRNA-like molecules, which lack significant protein-coding capacity, have been implicated in a wide range of biological functions through diverse and as yet poorly understood molecular mechanisms. Despite some recent insights into how lncRNAs function in such diverse cellular processes as regulation of gene expression and assembly of cellular structures, by and large, the key questions regarding lncRNA mechanisms remain to be answered. In this review, we discuss recent advances in understanding the biology of lncRNAs and propose avenues of investigation that may lead to fundamental new insights into their functions and mechanisms of action. Finally, as numerous lncRNAs are dysregulated in human diseases and disorders, we also discuss potential roles for these molecules in human health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
LncRNAs fall into one of three categories. (A) Long intervening non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) are transcribed from regions far away from protein-coding genes. (B) Natural Antisense Transcripts (NATs) are transcribed from the opposite strand of a protein-coding gene. (C) Intronic lncRNAs (shown in green) are transcribed from within introns of protein-coding genes.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
LncRNAs exert their effects by diverse mechanisms. (A) lncRNAs can act as guides and tethers for chromatin-modifying complexes, and thus contribute to tissue-specific gene expression. (B) lncRNAs can act as molecular scaffolds for protein complexes that lack protein–protein interaction domains. (C) lncRNAs can bind to transcription factors and prevent them from binding to their _target DNA sequence. (D) lncRNAs can interact directly with microRNAs (miRNAs) and prevent them from binding to mRNA, thus regulating protein synthesis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Cabili MN, Trapnell C, Goff L, Koziol M, Tazon-Vega B, Regev A, Rinn JL. Integrative annotation of human large intergenic noncoding RNAs reveals global properties and specific subclasses. Genes Dev. 2011;25:1915–1927. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Orom UA, Derrien T, Beringer M, Gumireddy K, Gardini A, Bussotti G, Lai F, Zytnicki M, Notredame C, Huang Q, et al. Long noncoding RNAs with enhancer-like function in human cells. Cell. 2010;143:46–58. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ponting CP, Oliver PL, Reik W. Evolution and functions of long noncoding RNAs. Cell. 2009;136:629–641. - PubMed
    1. Khalil AM, Guttman M, Huarte M, Garber M, Raj A, Rivea Morales D, Thomas K, Presser A, Bernstein BE, van Oudenaarden A, et al. Many human large intergenic noncoding RNAs associate with chromatin-modifying complexes and affect gene expression. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. 2009;106:11667–11672. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guttman M, Amit I, Garber M, French C, Lin MF, Feldser D, Huarte M, Zuk O, Carey BW, Cassady JP, et al. Chromatin signature reveals over a thousand highly conserved large non-coding RNAs in mammals. Nature. 2009;458:223–227. - PMC - PubMed

Substances

  NODES
Note 2
twitter 2