Emerging trends of long non‐coding RNAs in gene activation

• Published in: The FEBS journal Vol. 281; no. 1; pp. 34 - 45
• Main Authors: Krishnan, Jaya, Mishra, Rakesh K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-01-2014
• Subjects: Animals; central dogma; gene activation; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation; Humans; long non‐coding RNA; Molecular biology; ncRNA; Proteins; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA world; RNA, Long Noncoding - genetics; Transcriptional Activation; long non-coding RNA; ncRNA; gene activation; RNA world; central dogma
• ISSN: 1742-464X; 1742-4658
• DOI: 10.1111/febs.12578

The RNA world has gained increasing importance in the recent past as its role beyond coding for proteins and components of translational machinery is becoming more and more prominent. Recent studies have shown pervasive transcription throughout the genome generating a large number of non‐coding RNAs (ncRNAs) but few of these RNAs have been shown to perform regulatory functions. Among the regulatory RNAs, the long non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) form an interesting class which, with their ability to bind to a variety of targets, can play pivotal roles in cellular processes including regulation of gene expression. While lncRNAs are well known for their role in repressing gene expression, their role in gene activation is only emerging from recent studies. Here we review how the lncRNAs can mediate gene activation by a variety of mechanisms and explore their importance in biological processes.
The central dogma of biology is due for new dimensions with the emergence of numerous non‐coding RNAs (ncRNAs) as the final functional product. Until recently, most of the ncRNAs were known to have repressive function. Here we discuss the gene activation role of long ncRNAs that form a significant proportion of these transcripts, which also reveals their functional versatility.