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Review
. 2020 Feb 27;40(6):e00528-19.
doi: 10.1128/MCB.00528-19. Print 2020 Feb 27.

When Long Noncoding Becomes Protein Coding

Corrine Corrina R Hartford  1 , Ashish Lal  2
Affiliations
Review

When Long Noncoding Becomes Protein Coding

Corrine Corrina R Hartford et al. Mol Cell Biol. .

Abstract

Recent advancements in genetic and proteomic technologies have revealed that more of the genome encodes proteins than originally thought possible. Specifically, some putative long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been misannotated as noncoding. Numerous lncRNAs have been found to contain short open reading frames (sORFs) which have been overlooked because of their small size. Many of these sORFs encode small proteins or micropeptides with fundamental biological importance. These micropeptides can aid in diverse processes, including cell division, transcription regulation, and cell signaling. Here we discuss strategies for establishing the coding potential of putative lncRNAs and describe various functions of known micropeptides.

Keywords: circRNA; coding potential; lncRNA; mRNA; micropeptides.

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Figures

FIG 1
FIG 1
Various biological roles of micropeptides. Micropeptides are involved in various cellular processes, like signal transduction (e.g., Toddler), calcium transport (e.g., myoregulin), translational regulation (e.g., STORM), waste degradation (e.g., hemotin), mitochondrial regulation (e.g., Mtln), DNA repair (e.g., MRI-2), transcriptional regulation (e.g., Pgc), and mRNA splicing (HOXB-AS3).
FIG 2
FIG 2
Representative workflow for identifying a micropeptide encoded by a putative lncRNA.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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