Long non-coding RNA

Different types of long non-coding RNAs.[1]

Long non-coding RNAs (long ncRNAs, lncRNA) are a type of RNA, generally defined as transcripts more than 200 nucleotides that are not translated into protein.[2] This arbitrary limit distinguishes long ncRNAs from small non-coding RNAs, such as microRNAs (miRNAs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), and other short RNAs.[3] Given that some lncRNAs have been reported to have the potential to encode small proteins or micro-peptides, the latest definition of lncRNA is a class of RNA molecules of over 200 nucleotides that have no or limited coding capacity.[4] Long intervening/intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) are sequences of lncRNA which do not overlap protein-coding genes.[5]

Long non-coding RNAs include intergenic lincRNAs, intronic ncRNAs, and sense and antisense lncRNAs, each type showing different genomic positions in relation to genes and exons.[1][3]

  1. ^ a b Fernandes JC, Acuña SM, Aoki JI, Floeter-Winter LM, Muxel SM (February 2019). "Long Non-Coding RNAs in the Regulation of Gene Expression: Physiology and Disease". Non-Coding RNA. 5 (1): 17. doi:10.3390/ncrna5010017. PMC 6468922. PMID 30781588.
  2. ^ Perkel JM (June 2013). "Visiting "noncodarnia"". BioTechniques (paper). 54 (6): 301, 303–4. doi:10.2144/000114037. PMID 23750541. "We're calling long noncoding RNAs a class, when actually the only definition is that they are longer than 200 bp," says Ana Marques, a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford who uses evolutionary approaches to understand lncRNA function.
  3. ^ a b Ma L, Bajic VB, Zhang Z (June 2013). "On the classification of long non-coding RNAs". RNA Biology. 10 (6): 925–933. doi:10.4161/rna.24604. PMC 4111732. PMID 23696037.
  4. ^ Ma, Lina; Zhang, Zhang (September 2023). "The contribution of databases towards understanding the universe of long non-coding RNAs". Nature Reviews. Molecular Cell Biology. 24 (9): 601–602. doi:10.1038/s41580-023-00612-z. ISSN 1471-0080. PMID 37147495. S2CID 258528357.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference The functions and unique features of long intergenic non-coding RNA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).