Long non-coding RNAs as a source of new peptides

eLife

M Mar Alba¹  Jorge Ruiz-Orera²  Juan Antonio Subirana²  Xavier Messeguer³ 

[1] Real Academia de Ciències i Arts de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;Evolutionary Genomics Group, Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics, Hospital del Mar Research Institute, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain;Llenguatges i Sistemes Informàtics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain;

关键词: lncRNA;    ribosome profiling;    eukaryote;    de novo gene evolution;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.03523

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Deep transcriptome sequencing has revealed the existence of many transcripts that lack long or conserved open reading frames (ORFs) and which have been termed long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). The vast majority of lncRNAs are lineage-specific and do not yet have a known function. In this study, we test the hypothesis that they may act as a repository for the synthesis of new peptides. We find that a large fraction of the lncRNAs expressed in cells from six different species is associated with ribosomes. The patterns of ribosome protection are consistent with the translation of short peptides. lncRNAs show similar coding potential and sequence constraints than evolutionary young protein coding sequences, indicating that they play an important role in de novo protein evolution.

【 授权许可】

Unknown