A definitive transcriptome atlas for the non-coding expressed elements of the members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) does not exist. Incomplete lists of non-coding transcripts can be obtained for some of the reference genomes (e.g., M. tuberculosis H37Rv) but to what extent these transcripts have homologues in closely related species or even strains is not clear. This has implications for the analysis of transcriptomic data; non-coding parts of the transcriptome are often ignored in the absence of formal, reliable annotation. Here, we review the state of our knowledge of non-coding RNAs in pathogenic mycobacteria, emphasizing the disparities in the information included in commonly used databases. We then proceed to review ways of combining computational solutions for predicting the non-coding transcriptome with experiments that can help refine and confirm these predictions.

中文翻译：

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定义结核分枝杆菌复合体成员的功能性、非编码、表达基因组的挑战

结核分枝杆菌复合体 (MTBC)成员的非编码表达元件的明确转录组图谱不存在。对于一些参考基因组（例如，结核分枝杆菌），可以获得不完整的非编码转录本列表。H37Rv），但这些转录本在密切相关的物种甚至菌株中具有何种程度的同源物尚不清楚。这对转录组数据的分析有影响；在没有正式、可靠的注释的情况下，转录组的非编码部分经常被忽略。在这里，我们回顾了我们对致病性分枝杆菌中非编码 RNA 的了解情况，强调了常用数据库中包含的信息的差异。然后，我们继续审查将预测非编码转录组的计算解决方案与有助于改进和确认这些预测的实验相结合的方法。