Genomics and Applied Biology 2018, Vol.9, No.10, 62-71
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lncRNA will be more clearly displayed to us, thus allowing us to further understand the functions of different
transcripts. Some lncRNA have been found to have abnormal expression in tumor tissues, and these related
lncRNA can be used as biomarkers for the prediction of tumor or cancer (Yarmishyn and Kurochkin, 2015). Up to
now, a large number of lncRNA have been identified as biomarkers for cancer (Iyer et al., 2015). For example, in
a study of lncRNA in prostate cancer cells, researchers discovered an lncRNA called SChLAP1 (Zhao, 2014). The
expression of these lncRNA in prostate cancer cells was significantly higher than that in prophase prostate cancer
cells. This characteristic is helpful for judgment of cancer and postoperative observation, thus increasing means of
studying the pathogenesis of cancer of researchers. In plant studies, researchers have found that rice specific
lncRNA-LDMAR could cause programmed cell death in the anther tapetal layer of rice, and result in
photosensitive male sterility (Ding et al., 2012). This result might be of great significance to the research of light
regulation pathway of rice.
1 Action Mode of LncRNA
LncRNA does not encode proteins, but it can perform a lot of important functions
in vivo
through the regulation of
genes. LncRNA can perform their functions in the following ways (Figure 1): 1. LncRNA can be transcribed in
the upstream region of genes, which can affect gene expression; 2. LncRNA can affect gene expression by
inhibiting certain polymerases; 3. LncRNA acts by interfering with mRNA splicing; 4. Cooperate with Dicer
enzyme to regulate gene expression; 5. Directly regulate the activity of related proteins; 6. Formation of nucleic
acid protein complex; 7. Change the localization of cytoplasm; 8. Interaction with related small molecules
(Jeremy et al., 2008).
Figure 1 Action mode of lncRNA
The regulation of lncRNA on gene expression can be classified into the following categories (Figure 2): 1.
lncRNA will regulate genes at the level of epigenetics; 2. LncRNA will regulate during RNA transcription; 3. It
will regulate after RNA transcription completed. Relevant studies have shown that lncRNA can activate nearby
gene expression and also regulate the activity of transcription factors and RNA polymerase so as to regulate gene
expression as a transcription activator (Ørom et al., 2010).
2 Research Progress of LncRNA in Human Diseases
We now know that lncRNA can bind to and interact with large molecules in cells, such as DNA, RNA and
proteins, to control some important cancer phenotypes related to transcripts. Numerous studies have shown that
HOTAIR lncRNA is closely related to human cancer (Wu et al., 2014). HOTAIR was found for the first time in
