Multidimensional Conservation Analysis Decodes the Expression of Conserved Long Noncoding RNAs

Overview

Journal Life Sci Alliance

Specialties Biochemistry
Biology
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2023 Apr 6

PMID 37024123

Authors

Qiuzhong Zhou

Yuxi Jiang

Chaoqun Cai

Wen Li

Melvin Khee-Shing Leow

Yi Yang

Jin Liu

Dan Xu

Lei Sun

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Although long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) experience weaker evolutionary constraints and exhibit lower sequence conservation than coding genes, they can still conserve their features in various aspects. Here, we used multiple approaches to systemically evaluate the conservation between human and mouse lncRNAs from various dimensions including sequences, promoter, global synteny, and local synteny, which led to the identification of 1,731 conserved lncRNAs with 427 high-confidence ones meeting multiple criteria. Conserved lncRNAs, compared with non-conserved ones, generally have longer gene bodies, more exons and transcripts, stronger connections with human diseases, and are more abundant and widespread across different tissues. Transcription factor (TF) profile analysis revealed a significant enrichment of TF types and numbers in the promoters of conserved lncRNAs. We further identified a set of TFs that preferentially bind to conserved lncRNAs and exert stronger regulation on conserved than non-conserved lncRNAs. Our study has reconciled some discrepant interpretations of lncRNA conservation and revealed a new set of transcriptional factors ruling the expression of conserved lncRNAs.

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