Genomic and transcriptional co-localization of protein-coding and long non-coding RNA pairs in the developing brain.

ABSTRACT: Besides protein-coding mRNAs, eukaryotic transcriptomes include many long non-protein-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) of unknown function that are transcribed away from protein-coding loci. Here, we have identified 659 intergenic long ncRNAs whose genomic sequences individually exhibit evolutionary constraint, a hallmark of functionality. Of this set, those expressed in the brain are more frequently conserved and are significantly enriched with predicted RNA secondary structures. Furthermore, brain-expressed long ncRNAs are preferentially located adjacent to protein-coding genes that are (1) also expressed in the brain and (2) involved in transcriptional regulation or in nervous system development. This led us to the hypothesis that spatiotemporal co-expression of ncRNAs and nearby protein-coding gen

SUBMITTER: Ponjavic J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2722021 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature