The evolutionary acquisition and mode of functions of promoter-associated non-coding RNAs (pancRNAs) for mammalian development

Abstract

Increasing evidence has shown that many long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in gene regulation in a variety of ways such as transcriptional, post-transcriptional and epigenetic regulation. Promoter-associated non-coding RNAs (pancRNAs), which are categorized into the most abundant single-copy lncRNA biotype, play vital regulatory roles in finely tuning cellular specification at the epigenomic level. In short, pancRNAs can directly or indirectly regulate downstream genes to participate in the development of organisms in a cell-specific manner. In this review, we will introduce the evolutionarily acquired characteristics of pancRNAs as determined by comparative epigenomics and elaborate on the research progress on pancRNA-involving processes in mammalian embryonic development, including neural differentiation.

A comprehensive overview of exosome lncRNAs: emerging biomarkers and potential therapeutics in endometriosis

“…Before being translated into protein, pre-mRNA is specially spliced in the nucleus to generate mature mRNA, which is subsequently translocated from the heart to the ribosome in the cytoplasm. Only when the structural gene ultimately succeeds in producing an active protein is the gene considered functional ( 60 ). Several studies have demonstrated that lncRNAs can control mRNA translation in various ways ( 61 ).…”

Human‐biased TMEM25 expression promotes expansion of neural progenitor cells to alter cortical structure in the developing brain

“…The potential involvement of human-specific noncoding RNAs to achieve human-biased expression of conserved genes Our previous research demonstrated that the presence of high GC content in the promoter tends to generate divergent lncRNAs upstream of genes in a head-tohead manner (referred to as pancRNAs) [32,58,59]. pancRNAs have the ability to participate in various biological processes through specifically up-regulating the partner mRNAs [58].…”

Regulation Mechanisms of Meiotic Recombination Revealed from the Analysis of a Fission Yeast Recombination Hotspot ade6-M26

“…In addition to the roles played by transcribed lncRNA molecules, several studies have suggested the importance of cis -acting RNA polymerase II-transcribing nascent lncRNAs in the regulation of neighboring genes through their effects on histone modifications [ 101 , 102 ]. The lnc RNAs expressed from gene promoter region are referred to as promoter-associated lncRNA, which are categorized into most abundant ncRNA, and play pivotal roles in the regulation of downstream genes [ 103 ].…”