RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Methods for distinguishing between protein-coding and long noncoding RNAs and the elusive biological purpose of translation of long noncoding RNAs
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 017889
DO 10.1101/017889
A1 Gali Housman
A1 Igor Ulitsky
YR 2015
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/04/10/017889.abstract
AB Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a diverse class of RNAs with increasingly appreciated functions in vertebrates, yet much of their biology remains poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear to what extent the current catalog of over 10,000 distinct annotated lncRNAs is indeed devoid of genes coding for proteins. Here we review the available computational and experimental schemes for distinguishing between coding and noncoding transcripts and assess the conclusions from their recent genome-wide applications. We conclude that the model most consistent with available data is that a large number of mammalian lncRNAs undergo translation, but only a very small minority of such translation events result in stable and functional peptides. The outcome of the majority of the translation events and their potential biological purposes remain an intriguing topic for future investigation.