Long non-coding RNA

Different types of long non-coding RNAs.

Long non-coding RNAs (long ncRNAs, lncRNA) are a type of RNA, generally defined as transcripts of more than 200 nucleotides that are not translated into protein. This arbitrary limit distinguishes long ncRNAs from small non-coding RNAs, such as microRNAs (miRNAs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), and other short RNAs. Given that some genuine lncRNAs may encode small proteins, the latest definition of lncRNA is a class of transcripts of over 200 nucleotides that have no or limited coding capacity.

The definition of lncRNAs differs from that of other RNAs such as siRNAs, mRNAs, miRNAs, and snoRNAs because it is not connected to the function of the RNA. A lncRNA is any transcript that is not one of the other well-characterized RNAs and is longer than 200-500 nucleotides. Some scientists think that most lncRNAs do not have a biologically relevant function because they are transcripts of junk DNA.

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