Verheijen Bert M
Department of Translational Neuroscience, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Laboratory for Experimental Neurology, University Medical Center Utrecht, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Noncoding RNA. 2020 May 18;6(2):E18. doi: 10.3390/ncrna6020018.
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a diverse class of transcripts that are >200 nucleotides long and lack significant protein-coding potential. LncRNAs are emerging as major regulators of gene expression networks in various physiological and pathological processes. Interestingly, many lncRNAs show tissue-specific expression, for example, in the nervous system. Although lncRNAs have been suggested to play key roles in the brain, most functions of neural lncRNAs remain poorly understood. In order to provide a catalog of lncRNA changes that occur in spinal cord during early postnatal development, RNA from mouse spinal cord was sequenced at different time points in the first week after birth (postnatal day 1 and postnatal day 7). Two hundred and ninty-six differentially expressed lncRNAs (FDR < 0.05) were identified in the resulting dataset. Altered transcripts were associated with several biological processes including myelination, neural differentiation, and glial cell development. PCR validation confirmed differential expression of select lncRNAs (i.e., , , , and ). Additionally, analysis of circular RNAs (circRNAs), another class of non-coding RNA with regulatory potency, pointed out a number of circRNAs associated with spinal cord development. These data can be used as a resource for future studies on transcriptional changes during early postnatal nervous system development and studies of disorders that affect the spinal cord, e.g., spinal muscular atrophy.
长链非编码RNA（lncRNAs）是一类多样的转录本，长度超过200个核苷酸，且缺乏显著的蛋白质编码潜力。lncRNAs正逐渐成为各种生理和病理过程中基因表达网络的主要调节因子。有趣的是，许多lncRNAs表现出组织特异性表达，例如在神经系统中。尽管lncRNAs被认为在大脑中发挥关键作用，但神经lncRNAs的大多数功能仍知之甚少。为了提供出生后早期发育过程中脊髓中lncRNA变化的目录，对出生后第一周（出生后第1天和出生后第7天）不同时间点的小鼠脊髓RNA进行了测序。在所得数据集中鉴定出296个差异表达的lncRNAs（FDR<0.05）。转录本的改变与包括髓鞘形成、神经分化和胶质细胞发育在内的多个生物学过程相关。PCR验证证实了所选lncRNAs（即 、 、 和 ）的差异表达。此外，对具有调控潜力的另一类非编码RNA——环状RNA（circRNAs）的分析指出了一些与脊髓发育相关的circRNAs。这些数据可作为未来研究出生后早期神经系统发育过程中转录变化以及影响脊髓的疾病（如脊髓性肌萎缩症）研究的资源。
