Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are poorly understood in insects. In this study, we performed genome-wide analysis of lncRNAs in Tribolium castaneum by RNA-seq. In total, 4516 lncRNA transcripts corresponding to 3917 genes were identified from late embryos, early larvae, late larvae, early pupae, late pupae and early adults of T. castaneum, including 3152 novel lncRNAs and 1364 known lncRNAs. These lncRNAs have few exons and transcripts, and are short in length. During development, they exhibited nine different expression patterns. Functionally, they can act either by targeting messenger RNAs (1813 lncRNAs) and lncRNAs (45 lncRNAs) or as micro RNA (miRNA) precursors (46 lncRNAs). LncRNAs were observed to target the metabolic enzymes of glycolysis, TCA cycle and amino acids, demonstrating that lncRNAs control metabolism by regulating metabolic enzymes. Moreover, lncRNAs were shown to participate in cell differentiation and development via their targets. As miRNA precursors, lncRNAs could participate in the ecdysone signaling pathway. This study provides comprehensive information for lncRNAs of T. castaneum, and will promote functional analysis and target identification of lncRNAs in the insect.

中文翻译：

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Tribolium castaneum 长链非编码 RNA 的全基因组鉴定和表征

昆虫中的长链非编码 RNA (lncRNA) 知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们通过 RNA-seq对Tribolium castaneum 中的 lncRNA 进行了全基因组分析。总共从T. castaneum的晚胚、早幼虫、晚幼虫、早蛹、晚蛹和早成虫中鉴定出4516个lncRNA转录物，对应3917个基因，包括3152个新的lncRNA和1364个已知的lncRNA。这些 lncRNA 的外显子和转录本很少，而且长度很短。在开发过程中，他们展示了九种不同的表达模式。在功能上，它们可以通过靶向信使 RNA（1813 个 lncRNA）和 lncRNA（45 个 lncRNA）或作为微 RNA（miRNA）前体（46 个 lncRNA）发挥作用。观察到 lncRNAs 靶向糖酵解、TCA 循环和氨基酸的代谢酶，表明 lncRNAs 通过调节代谢酶来控制代谢。此外，lncRNA 被证明通过其靶标参与细胞分化和发育。作为 miRNA 前体，lncRNAs 可以参与蜕皮激素信号通路。该研究为T. castaneum的lncRNAs提供了全面的信息，并将促进昆虫中 lncRNA 的功能分析和目标识别。