The four dimensions of noncoding RNA conservation

Sven Diederichs

doi:10.1016/j.tig.2014.01.004

The four dimensions of noncoding RNA conservation

Trends Genet. 2014 Apr;30(4):121-3. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2014.01.004. Epub 2014 Mar 7.

Author

Sven Diederichs¹

Affiliation

¹ Molecular RNA Biology & Cancer Helmholtz-University-Group, German Cancer Research Center DKFZ, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany; Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Heidelberg, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: s.diederichs@dkfz.de.

PMID: 24613441
DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2014.01.004

Abstract

Evolutionary conservation is widely used as an indicator of the functional significance of newly discovered genes. Although the simple search for homology at the nucleotide or amino acid sequence level has proven to be valuable for protein-coding genes, these criteria are too narrow to describe fully the selection process for long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). LncRNA conservation includes four dimensions: the sequence, structure, function, and expression from syntenic loci. Two recently described knockout mouse models for the lincRNAs metastasis associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (Malat1) and HOX antisense intergenic RNA (Hotair) highlight the multifaceted levels of conservation.

Keywords: HOTAIR; MALAT1; conservation; lncRNA; long non-coding RNA.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Conserved Sequence / genetics*
Humans
RNA, Untranslated / genetics*

Substances

RNA, Untranslated