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Review
. 2021 Apr 14;11(4):1118.
doi: 10.3390/ani11041118.

Long Non-Coding RNAs in Insects

Chhavi Choudhary  1 , Shivasmi Sharma  2 , Keshav Kumar Meghwanshi  1 , Smit Patel  2 , Prachi Mehta  3 , Nidhi Shukla  4 , Duy Ngoc Do  5 , Subhash Rajpurohit  3 , Prashanth Suravajhala  4   6 , Jayendra Nath Shukla  1
Affiliations
Review

Long Non-Coding RNAs in Insects

Chhavi Choudhary et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Only a small subset of all the transcribed RNAs are used as a template for protein translation, whereas RNA molecules that are not translated play a very important role as regulatory non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). Besides traditionally known RNAs (ribosomal and transfer RNAs), ncRNAs also include small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). The lncRNAs, which were initially thought to be junk, have gained a great deal attention because of their regulatory roles in diverse biological processes in animals and plants. Insects are the most abundant and diverse group of animals on this planet. Recent studies have demonstrated the role of lncRNAs in almost all aspects of insect development, reproduction, and genetic plasticity. In this review, we describe the function and molecular mechanisms of the mode of action of different insect lncRNAs discovered up to date.

Keywords: LncRNAs; development; insects; non-coding RNA; regulatory functions.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest whatsoever.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Classification of non-coding RNA. Non-coding RNA can be divided into two groups (small and long non-coding RNA) based on their size. Small non-coding RNA can be further divided into miRNA, piRNA, siRNA, etc. Long non-coding RNA can be subdivided into sense, anti-sense, intronic, intergenic, cis-, and trans-RNA based on their biogenesis and mechanism of action (modified from Dahariya et al. [8]).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Classification of lncRNAs in the context of genomic locations. Intergenic LncRNAs are transcribed from the genomic region between two coding genes. Sense lncRNA are transcribed from the sense strand of protein-coding genes whereas antisense lncRNAs are transcribed from the opposite strand of coding genes. Intronic lncRNA are transcribed entirely from introns of protein-coding genes.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mechanism of action of lncRNA. LncRNAs regulate gene expressions by acting as guide. They can also act as a scaffold to facilitate the formation of ribonucleoprotein complexes. By acting as a decoy, lncRNA can bind to the transcription factors and remove them from chromatin, thus inhibiting its regulation. LncRNAs can also function as miRNA precursors besides inhibiting miRNA-mediated gene repression by sponging miRNAs.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) A detailed protein–lncRNA interaction map generated using GeneMania that shows physical interactions, co-expression, co-localization, pathways, and genetic interactions in different edge colors (Supplementary file) The genes were queried using GeneMania with Drosophila melanogaster as a query producing the candidate nodes shown to be interacting with others. (b) A co-expression interaction network of lncRNAs in insects. The edges (in pink color) indicate the co-expression between these lncRNAs and their interacting partners. It is likely that all co-expressed interactants are co-localized. Approximately 40.05% of interactions were associated with co-expression (please see legend below the figure).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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