title: Structure Prediction: New Insights into Decrypting Long Noncoding RNAs.
abstract: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), which form a diverse class of RNAs, remain the least understood type of noncoding RNAs in terms of their nature and identification. Emerging evidence has revealed that a small number of newly discovered lncRNAs perform important and complex biological functions such as dosage compensation, chromatin regulation, genomic imprinting, and nuclear organization. However, understanding the wide range of functions of lncRNAs related to various processes of cellular networks remains a great experimental challenge. Structural versatility is critical for RNAs to perform various functions and provides new insights into probing the functions of lncRNAs. In recent years, the computational method of RNA structure prediction has been developed to analyze the structure of lncRNAs. This novel methodology has provided basic but indispensable information for the rapid, large-scale and in-depth research of lncRNAs. This review focuses on mainstream RNA structure prediction methods at the secondary and tertiary levels to offer an additional approach to investigating the functions of lncRNAs.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &amp; Biotechnology, Institute of Special Environmental Biophysics, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 Youyi Xilu, Xi'an 710072, China. yan@mail.nwpu.cn.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &amp; Biotechnology, Institute of Special Environmental Biophysics, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 Youyi Xilu, Xi'an 710072, China. Yasir@mail.nwpu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yasir
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arfat
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &amp; Biotechnology, Institute of Special Environmental Biophysics, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 Youyi Xilu, Xi'an 710072, China. lidijie@mail.nwpu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Dijie
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &amp; Biotechnology, Institute of Special Environmental Biophysics, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 Youyi Xilu, Xi'an 710072, China. sofan@mail.nwpu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &amp; Biotechnology, Institute of Special Environmental Biophysics, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 Youyi Xilu, Xi'an 710072, China. chzhh@mail.nwpu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhihao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &amp; Biotechnology, Institute of Special Environmental Biophysics, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 Youyi Xilu, Xi'an 710072, China. Yinchong42@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Chong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &amp; Biotechnology, Institute of Special Environmental Biophysics, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 Youyi Xilu, Xi'an 710072, China. yulongsun@nwpu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yulong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &amp; Biotechnology, Institute of Special Environmental Biophysics, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 Youyi Xilu, Xi'an 710072, China. lifanglinn@mail.nwpu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lifang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Bone Disease Oncology, Hong-Hui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University College of Medicine, South Door slightly Friendship Road 555, Xi'an 710054, China. doctoryangtm@163.com.
authors.forename: Tuanmin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &amp; Biotechnology, Institute of Special Environmental Biophysics, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 Youyi Xilu, Xi'an 710072, China. qianair@nwpu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Airong
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Qian
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002843:Chromatin / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D042002:Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly; D004303:Dosage Compensation, Genetic; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding
keywords: function; lncRNAs; secondary structure; structure prediction; tertiary structure