Cytogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India.
Wiley Interdiscip Rev RNA. 2012 Nov-Dec;3(6):779-96. doi: 10.1002/wrna.1135. Epub 2012 Sep 13.
Following the initial discovery of the heat shock RNA omega (hsrω) gene of Drosophila melanogaster to be non-coding (nc) and also inducible by cell stress, other stress-inducible long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) have been described in diverse organisms. In view of the rapid sequence divergence of lncRNAs, present knowledge of stress trasncriptome is limited and fragmented. Several known stress-related lncRNAs, associated with specific nuclear speckled domains or nucleolus, provide structural base for sequestering diverse RNA-processing/regulatory proteins. Others have roles in transcriptional or translational inhibition during stress or in signaling pathways; functions of several other lncRNAs are not yet known. Most stress-related lncRNAs act primarily by modulating activity of the proteins to which they bind or by sequestering specific sets of proteins away from the active pool. A common emerging theme is that a given lncRNA targets one or more protein/s with key role/s in the cascade of events triggered by the stress and therefore has a widespread integrative effect. Since proteins associate with RNA through short sequence motifs, the overall base sequence of functionally similar ncRNAs is often not conserved except for specific motifs. The rapid evolvability of ncRNA sequences provides elegant modules for adaptability to changing environment as binding of one or the other protein to ncRNA can alter its structure and functions in distinct ways. Thus the stress-related lncRNAs act as hubs in the cellular networks to coordinate activities of the members within and between different networks to maintain cellular homeostasis for survival or to trigger cell death.
在最初发现果蝇的热休克 RNA omega（hsrω）基因是非编码（nc）并可被细胞应激诱导之后，在多种生物中已经描述了其他应激诱导的长非编码 RNA（lncRNA）。鉴于 lncRNA 的快速序列分化，目前对应激转录组的了解是有限和零散的。一些已知的与特定核斑点域或核仁相关的应激相关 lncRNA，为隔离各种 RNA 加工/调节蛋白提供了结构基础。其他 lncRNA 在应激期间或信号通路中具有转录或翻译抑制作用；还有一些 lncRNA 的功能尚不清楚。大多数应激相关 lncRNA 主要通过调节与其结合的蛋白质的活性或通过将特定的蛋白质组隔离出活性池来发挥作用。一个共同的新兴主题是，给定的 lncRNA 靶向一个或多个在应激引发的事件级联中具有关键作用的蛋白质，因此具有广泛的综合效应。由于蛋白质通过短序列基序与 RNA 结合，因此除了特定的基序外，功能相似的 ncRNA 的整体碱基序列通常不会保守。ncRNA 序列的快速进化能力为适应不断变化的环境提供了优雅的模块，因为一个或另一个蛋白质与 ncRNA 的结合可以以不同的方式改变其结构和功能。因此，应激相关 lncRNA 作为细胞网络中的枢纽，协调网络内和网络之间成员的活动，以维持细胞内稳态以生存或触发细胞死亡。
