Abstract
In late 2012 it was evidenced that most of the human genome is transcribed but only a small percentage of the transcripts are translated. This observation supported the importance of non-coding RNAs and it was confirmed in several organisms. The most abundant non-translated transcripts are long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). In contrast to protein-coding RNAs, they show a more cell-specific expression. To understand the function of lncRNAs, it is fundamental to investigate in which cells they are preferentially expressed and to detect their subcellular localization. Recent improvements of techniques that localize single RNA molecules in tissues like single-cell RNA sequencing and fluorescence amplification methods have given a considerable boost in the knowledge of the lncRNA functions. In recent years, single-cell transcription variability was associated with non-coding RNA expression, revealing this class of RNAs as important transcripts in the cell lineage specification. The purpose of this review is to collect updated information about lncRNA classification and new findings on their function derived from single-cell analysis. We also retained useful for all researchers to describe the methods available for single-cell analysis and the databases collecting single-cell and lncRNA data. Tables are included to schematize, describe, and compare exposed concepts.
Highlights
The central dogma of molecular biology explains the flow of the information for the synthesis of proteins
Non-coding RNAs appear to be the preponderant part of transcribed genomes in eukaryotes with a regulatory capacity in different physiopathological processes that were described in several manuscripts
This process has low efficiency and the original cocktail of reprogramming factors includes oncogenes that can lead to tumorigenesis
Summary
The central dogma of molecular biology explains the flow of the information for the synthesis of proteins. The international ENCODE project has established that 75% of the human genome is transcribed into RNAs but only 2% of these transcripts are translated into proteins [2]. This evidence indicates that the information in 98% of transcribed DNA is not used to synthesize proteins. The involvement of non-coding RNAs in gene expression regulation was evident [7,8]. The evidence that the non-protein coding component of the human genome is actively transcribed and carries out crucial functions limits the importance of coding genes in genome regulation. Non-coding transcripts become one of the stars of modern biology, especially because of their involvement in a wide range of regulatory processes and changed the association of non-coding regions to junk DNA [3]
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