Epigenenetic regulation of alternative splicing: How lncRNAs tailor the message

Pisignano, Giuseppina; Ladomery, Michael

Abstract

Alternative splicing is a highly fine-tuned regulated process and one of the main drivers of proteomic diversity across eukaryotes. The vast majority of human multi-exon genes is alternatively spliced in a cell type-and tissue-specific manner, and defects in alternative splicing can dramatically alter RNA and protein functions and lead to disease. The eukaryotic genome is also intensively transcribed into long and short non-coding RNAs which account for up to 90% of the entire tran-scriptome. Over the years, lncRNAs have received considerable attention as important players in the regulation of cellular processes including alternative splicing. In this review, we focus on recent discoveries that show how lncRNAs contribute significantly to the regulation of alternative splicing and explore how they are able to shape the expression of a diverse set of splice isoforms through several mechanisms. With the increasing number of lncRNAs being discovered and characterized, the contribution of lncRNAs to the regulation of alternative splicing is likely to grow significantly.

• Journal Article Type: Review
• Acceptance Date: Feb 22, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Mar 11, 2021
• Publication Date: Mar 11, 2021
• Deposit Date: Mar 11, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 12, 2021
• Journal: Non-coding RNA
• Electronic ISSN: 2311-553X
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 21
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ncrna7010021
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7197253