title: Understanding the Functions of Long Non-Coding RNAs through Their Higher-Order Structures.
abstract: Although thousands of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been discovered in eukaryotes, very few molecular mechanisms have been characterized due to an insufficient understanding of lncRNA structure. Therefore, investigations of lncRNA structure and subsequent elucidation of the regulatory mechanisms are urgently needed. However, since lncRNA are high molecular weight molecules, which makes their crystallization difficult, obtaining information about their structure is extremely challenging, and the structures of only several lncRNAs have been determined so far. Here, we review the structure-function relationships of the widely studied lncRNAs found in the animal and plant kingdoms, focusing on the principles and applications of both in vitro and in vivo technologies for the study of RNA structures, including dimethyl sulfate-sequencing (DMS-seq), selective 2'-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension-sequencing (SHAPE-seq), parallel analysis of RNA structure (PARS), and fragmentation sequencing (FragSeq). The aim of this review is to provide a better understanding of lncRNA biological functions by studying them at the structural level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Biotechnology, College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China. spxylirui@cau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Biotechnology, College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China. hlzhu@cau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hongliang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Biotechnology, College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China. lyb@cau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yunbo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics*; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding; D018749:RNA, Plant
keywords: function; long non-coding RNA; molecular mechanisms; structure; technologies