Evolving Views of Long Noncoding RNAs and Epigenomic Control of Lymphocyte State and Memory
- Tasha A. Morrison1,
- William H. Hudson2,
- Danielle A. Chisolm1,
- Yuka Kanno1,
- Han-Yu Shih3,
- Rafi Ahmed2,
- Jorge Henao-Mejia4,
- Markus Hafner5 and
- John J. O'Shea1
- 1Lymphocyte Cell Biology Section, Molecular Immunology and Inflammation Branch, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
- 2Emory Vaccine Center and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA
- 3Neuro-Immune Regulome Unit, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
- 4Institute for Immunology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
- 5Laboratory of Muscle Stem Cells and Gene Regulation, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
- Correspondence: osheaj{at}arb.niams.nih.gov
Abstract
Not simply an attribute of the adaptive immune system, immunological memory can be viewed on multiple levels. Accordingly, the molecular basis of memory comprises multiple mechanisms. The advent of new sequencing technologies has greatly enhanced the understanding of gene regulation and lymphocyte specification, and improved measurement of chromatin states affords new insights into the epigenomic and transcriptomic programs that underlie memory. Beyond canonical genes, the involvement of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) is becoming increasingly apparent, and it appears that there are more than two to three times as many lncRNAs as protein-coding genes. lncRNAs can directly interact with DNA, RNA, and proteins, and a single lncRNA can contain multiple modular domains and thus interact with different classes of molecules. Yet, most lncRNAs have not been tested for function, and even fewer knockout mice have been generated. It is therefore timely to consider new potential mechanisms that may contribute to immune memory.
