title: AnnoLnc: a web server for systematically annotating novel human lncRNAs.
abstract: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to play essential roles in almost every important biological process through multiple mechanisms. Although the repertoire of human lncRNAs has rapidly expanded, their biological function and regulation remain largely elusive, calling for a systematic and integrative annotation tool.
  
  
  
  Here we present AnnoLnc ( http://annolnc.cbi.pku.edu.cn ), a one-stop portal for systematically annotating novel human lncRNAs. Based on more than 700 data sources and various tool chains, AnnoLnc enables a systematic annotation covering genomic location, secondary structure, expression patterns, transcriptional regulation, miRNA interaction, protein interaction, genetic association and evolution. An intuitive web interface is available for interactive analysis through both desktops and mobile devices, and programmers can further integrate AnnoLnc into their pipeline through standard JSON-based Web Service APIs.
  
  
  
  To the best of our knowledge, AnnoLnc is the only web server to provide on-the-fly and systematic annotation for newly identified human lncRNAs. Compared with similar tools, the annotation generated by AnnoLnc covers a much wider spectrum with intuitive visualization. Case studies demonstrate the power of AnnoLnc in not only rediscovering known functions of human lncRNAs but also inspiring novel hypotheses.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, College of Life Sciences, Center for Bioinformatics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, College of Life Sciences, Center for Bioinformatics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P.R. China.|Present address: Department of Hematology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, College of Life Sciences, Center for Bioinformatics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P.R. China.|Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, College of Life Sciences, Center for Bioinformatics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Fangyuan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, College of Life Sciences, Center for Bioinformatics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Fenglin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, College of Life Sciences, Center for Bioinformatics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P.R. China. gaog@mail.cbi.pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ge
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6470-8815
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D059467:Transcriptome; D014584:User-Computer Interface
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding
keywords: Annotation; LncRNAs; Long noncoding RNAs; Transcriptome; Web server