Very little is known about long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the mammalian olfactory sensory epithelia. Deciphering the non-coding transcriptome in olfaction is relevant because these RNAs have been shown to play a role in chromatin modification and nuclear architecture reorganization, processes that accompany olfactory differentiation and olfactory receptor gene choice, one of the most poorly understood gene regulatory processes in mammals. In this study, we used a combination of in silico and ex vivo approaches to uncover a comprehensive catalogue of olfactory lncRNAs and to investigate their expression in the mouse olfactory organs. Initially, we used a novel machine-learning lncRNA classifier to discover hundreds of annotated and unannotated lncRNAs, some of which were predicted to be preferentially expressed in the main olfactory epithelium and the vomeronasal organ, the most important olfactory structures in the mouse. Moreover, we used whole-tissue and single-cell RNA sequencing data to discover lncRNAs expressed in mature sensory neurons of the main epithelium. Candidate lncRNAs were further validated by in situ hybridization and RT-PCR, leading to the identification of lncRNAs found throughout the olfactory epithelia, as well as others exquisitely expressed in subsets of mature olfactory neurons or progenitor cells.

中文翻译：

---

用新型机器学习模型发现小鼠嗅觉较长的非编码转录组。

对于哺乳动物嗅觉感觉上皮细胞中的长非编码RNA（lncRNA）知之甚少。解密嗅觉中的非编码转录组是相关的，因为已证明这些RNA在染色质修饰和核结构重组，伴随嗅觉分化和嗅觉受体基因选择的过程中发挥作用，这是哺乳动物中最鲜为人知的基因调控过程之一。在这项研究中，我们使用了计算机模拟和离体方法的组合来揭示嗅觉lncRNA的全面目录，并研究它们在小鼠嗅觉器官中的表达。最初，我们使用一种新颖的机器学习lncRNA分类器来发现数百个带注释和不带注释的lncRNA，其中一些被预测优先在主要嗅上皮和犁鼻器器官中表达，后者是小鼠中最重要的嗅觉结构。此外，我们使用全组织和单细胞RNA测序数据来发现在主要上皮的成熟感觉神经元中表达的lncRNA。候选lncRNAs通过原位杂交和RT-PCR进一步验证，从而鉴定出遍布嗅觉上皮细胞以及在成熟嗅觉神经元或祖细胞亚群中精确表达的其他lncRNAs。