Long noncoding RNAs shape transcription in plants

Abstract

The advent of novel high-throughput sequencing techniques has revealed that eukaryotic genomes are massively transcribed although only a small fraction of RNAs exhibits protein-coding capacity. In the last years, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as regulators of eukaryotic gene expression in a wide range of molecular mechanisms. Plant lncRNAs can be transcribed by alternative RNA polymerases, acting directly as long transcripts or can be processed into active small RNAs. Several lncRNAs have been recently shown to interact with chromatin, DNA or nuclear proteins to condition the epigenetic environment of target genes or modulate the activity of transcriptional complexes. In this review, we will summarize the recent discoveries about the actions of plant lncRNAs in the regulation of gene expression at the transcriptional level.

Keywords: Long noncoding RNAs; MEDIATOR; PRC1; PRC2; Pol II; Polycomb; alternative splicing; circRNAs; genome topology; inverted repeats; transcription.

Figure 1.

Long noncoding RNAs modulate the plant transcriptional machinery

Figure 2.

Long noncoding RNAs recruit Polycomb repressive complex 2 to target loci

Figure 3.

Long noncoding RNAs shape chromatin 3D conformation modulating transcriptional activity

Figure 4.

Circular RNAs directly interacting with DNA and modulating alternative splicing