LncRNAs, lost in translation or licence to regulate?

Alvaro de Andres-Pablo (1) , Antonin Morillon (1) , Maxime Wery (1)

1 DIG CANCER - Dynamique de l'information génétique : bases fondamentales et cancer

Over the last decade, advances in transcriptomics have revealed that the pervasive transcription of eukaryotic genomes produces plethora of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are now recognized as major regulators of multiple cellular processes. Although they have been thought to lack any protein-coding potential, recent ribosome-profiling data indicate that lncRNAs can interact with the translation machinery, leading to the production of functional peptides in some cases. In this perspective, we have explored the idea that translation can be part of the fate of cytoplasmic lncRNAs, raising the possibility for them to work as bifunctional RNAs, endowed with dual coding and regulatory functions.

Mots clés: Non-coding genome; LncRNA; RNA decay; Regulatory RNA; Transcription

Domaines: Génomique, Transcriptomique et Protéomique [q-bio.GN]; Génétique

Alvaro de Andres-Pablo, Antonin Morillon, Maxime Wery. LncRNAs, lost in translation or licence to regulate?. Current Genetics, 2016, 63 (1), pp.29-33. ⟨10.1007/s00294-016-0615-1⟩. ⟨hal-01332047⟩