近日，德国海德堡大学分子生物学中心的Henrik Kaessmann和Margarida Cardoso-Moreira团队合作报道了不同种哺乳动物器官在发育过程中lncRNA的动态变化。这一研究成果于2019年7月25日发表在国际著名学术期刊《自然》上。

研究人员分析了7个物种（人类、猕猴、小鼠、大鼠、兔子、负鼠和鸡）的7个主要器官从早期器官生成到成年发育过程中lncRNA的表达模式。研究人员在每个物种中鉴定了大约15000到35000个潜在的lncRNA，其中大部分都具有物种特异性。研究人员分析了不同发育阶段中lncRNA的表达模式，并发现许多lncRNA都具有动态的表达模式，而且表现出功能性富集的特征。发育过程中存在从广泛而保守的lncRNA表达向细胞谱系和器官特异性lncRNA表达增加的转换。因此，这项研究为鉴定不同哺乳动物器官发育过程中潜在的lncRNA及其表达模式以及进化保守性提供了资源。

研究人员表示，尽管在人类和其他哺乳动物基因组中鉴定了许多长非编码RNA（lncRNA），但对其功能却知之甚少，特别是lncRNA在器官发育过程中贡献。

附：英文原文

Title: Developmental dynamics of lncRNAs across mammalian organs and species

Author: Ioannis Sarropoulos, Ray Marin, Margarida Cardoso-Moreira, Henrik Kaessmann

Issue&Volume: Volume 571 Issue 7766

Abstract: Although many long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified in human and other mammalian genomes, there has been limited systematic functional characterization of these elements. In particular, the contribution of lncRNAs to organ development remains largely unexplored. Here we analyse the expression patterns of lncRNAs across developmental time points in seven major organs, from early organogenesis to adulthood, in seven species (human, rhesus macaque, mouse, rat, rabbit, opossum and chicken). Our analyses identified approximately 15,000 to 35,000 candidate lncRNAs in each species, most of which show species specificity. We characterized the expression patterns of lncRNAs across developmental stages, and found many with dynamic expression patterns across time that show signatures of enrichment for functionality. During development, there is a transition from broadly expressed and conserved lncRNAs towards an increasing number of lineage- and organ-specific lncRNAs. Our study provides a resource of candidate lncRNAs and their patterns of expression and evolutionary conservation across mammalian organ development.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1341-x

Source:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1341-x