A substantial fraction of the human transcriptome is composed of the so-called long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), yet the available catalogs of known lncRNAs are far from complete. Moreover, functional studies of these RNAs are challenged by several factors, such as their tissue-specific expression and functional heterogeneity, resulting in only ca. 1% of them being well characterized. Here, we describe a set of 41,400 novel lncRNAs discovered with RNA-Seq data from 1463 samples encompassing diverse tissues and cell lines. We utilized publicly available transcriptomic and genomic data to provide their characteristics, such as tissue specificity, cellular abundance, polyA status, cellular localization, evolutionary conservation and transcript stability, which allowed us to speculate on their possible biological roles. We also pinpointed 24 novel lncRNAs as candidates for breast cancer biomarkers. The results bring us closer to a comprehensive annotation of human lncRNAs, though vast amounts of further work are needed to validate the predictions and fully decipher their biology. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: ncRNA in control of gene expression edited by Kotb Abdelmohsen.

中文翻译：

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迈向人类lncRNA的更深注解。

人类转录组的很大一部分由所谓的长非编码RNA（lncRNA）组成，但是已知的lncRNA的可用目录远非完整。此外，这些RNA的功能研究受到多种因素的挑战，例如它们的组织特异性表达和功能异质性，仅导致 其中1％的特征很好。在这里，我们描述了从包括各种组织和细胞系的1463个样品中的RNA-Seq数据中发现的41,400个新颖的lncRNA。我们利用公开的转录组学和基因组数据来提供它们的特征，例如组织特异性，细胞丰度，polyA状态，细胞定位，进化保守性和转录本稳定性，这使我们能够推测它们可能的生物学作用。我们还确定了24种新颖的lncRNA作为乳腺癌生物标志物的候选物。结果使我们更接近于人类lncRNA的全面注释，尽管需要大量的进一步工作来验证预测并充分破译其生物学。本文是由Kotb Abdelmohsen编辑的名为“控制基因表达的ncRNA”的特刊的一部分。