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PMID: 22196729 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Conserved function of lincRNAs in vertebrate embryonic development despite rapid sequence evolution.

Cell ·Vol. 147 ·No. 7 ·2011-12-23 ·Pages 1537-50

Ulitsky I, Shkumatava A, Jan CH, Sive H, Bartel DP

Abstract

Thousands of long intervening noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) have been identified in mammals. To better understand the evolution and functions of these enigmatic RNAs, we used chromatin marks, poly(A)-site mapping and RNA-Seq data to identify more than 550 distinct lincRNAs in zebrafish. Although these shared many characteristics with mammalian lincRNAs, only 29 had detectable sequence similarity with putative mammalian orthologs, typically restricted to a single short region of high conservation. Other lincRNAs had conserved genomic locations without detectable sequence conservation. Antisense reagents targeting conserved regions of two zebrafish lincRNAs caused developmental defects. Reagents targeting splice sites caused the same defects and were rescued by adding either the mature lincRNA or its human or mouse ortholog. Our study provides a roadmap for identification and analysis of lincRNAs in model organisms and shows that lincRNAs play crucial biological roles during embryonic development with functionality conserved despite limited sequence conservation.

MeSH Terms
Animals Embryonic Development Evolution, Molecular Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental Humans Mice RNA, Untranslated/genetics,metabolism Vertebrates/embryology,genetics Zebrafish/embryology,genetics
Chemicals
RNA, Untranslated
Authors & Affiliations
5 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Ulitsky Igor
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
Shkumatava Alena
Jan Calvin H
Sive Hazel
Bartel David P
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Article Info
Journal
Cell
Abbr.
Cell
ISSN
1097-4172
DOI
10.1016/j.cell.2011.11.055
Published
2011-12-23
Pages
1537-50
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0413066
PMCID
PMC3376356
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM067031 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM067031-08 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM067031 · United States
Databases
GEO
GSE32880
Corrections
ErratumIn
-
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2011.11.055 PMC Full Text View journal details
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