title: Long noncoding RNAs in mammalian cells: what, where, and why?
abstract: Not all long, polyadenylated cellular RNAs encode polypeptides. In recent years, it has become apparent that a number of organisms express abundant amounts of transcripts that lack open reading frames or that are retained in the nucleus. Rather than accumulating silently in the cell, we now know that many of these long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in nuclear architecture or in the regulation of gene expression. Here, we discuss some recent progress in our understanding of the functions of a number of important lncRNAs in mammalian cells.
authors.affiliation: Genetics and Developmental Biology, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06030, USA. linchen@uchc.edu
authors.forename: Ling-Ling
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Gordon G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Carmichael
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence / Q000502:physiology; D002477:Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D042002:Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D022661:RNA, Untranslated