Long Non-Coding RNAs: Biogenesis, Mechanism of Action and Role in Different Biological and Pathological Processes

Abstract

RNA or ribonucleic acid constitutes of nucleotides, which are ribose sugars coupled to nitrogenous bases and phosphate groups. Nitrogenous bases include adenine, guanine, cytosine and uracil. Messenger RNA, ribosomal RNA and Transfer RNA are three main types of RNA that are involved in protein synthesis. Apart from its primary role in synthesis of protein, RNA comes in variety of forms like snRNA, miRNA, siRNA, antisense RNA, LncRNA etc., that are involved in DNA replication, post-transcriptional modification, and gene regulation etc. LncRNAs regulate gene expression by various ways including at, transcriptional, post-transcriptional, translational, post-translational and epigenetic levels by interacting principally with mRNA, DNA, protein, and miRNA. Among other biological functions, they are involved in chromatin remodelling, transcriptional interference, transcriptional activation, mRNA translation and RNA processing. In this chapter we shall be discussing the origin of lncRNAs, their biogenesis, their mechanism of action and their role in many biological and pathological processes like epigenetics, genome imprinting, several cancers and autoimmune diseases.