High-throughput analyses of mammalian transcriptomes have revealed that more than half of the transcripts produced by RNA polymerase II are non-protein-coding. One class of these non-coding transcripts is the long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are more than 200 nucleotides in length and are molecularly indistinguishable from other protein-coding mRNAs. Although the molecular functions of these lncRNAs have long remained unknown, emerging evidence implicates the functional involvement of lncRNAs in the regulation of gene expression through the modification of chromatin, maintenance of subnuclear structures, transport of specific mRNAs, and control of pre-mRNA splicing. Here, we discuss the functions of a distinct group of vertebrate-specific lncRNAs, NEAT1/MENε/β/VINC, MALAT1/NEAT2, and Gomafu/RNCR2/MIAT, which accumulate abundantly within the nucleus as RNA components of specific nuclear bodies.
© 2011 The Authors. Development, Growth & Differentiation © 2011 Japanese Society of Developmental Biologists.