Long Non-coding RNAs in Adipogenesis

描述（申请人提供）：哺乳动物基因组表达大量长链非编码RNA（lncRNA）。然而，只有少数人被研究过。已知的lncRNA在细胞中具有多种作用，主要在细胞核中，如染色质重塑、转录和RNA加工。脂肪发生是指由前体细胞分化为脂肪细胞的过程，它与糖尿病和心血管疾病等多种人类疾病密切相关。虽然蛋白质编码基因在脂肪形成中的调节已经被很好地研究，但lncRNA的作用完全不清楚。我们已经测序了人类和小鼠细胞的转录组，这些细胞经历了前所未有的深度脂肪形成。我们的初步分析表明，一组lncRNA在脂肪形成过程中受到高度调节，表明它们在该过程中的功能作用。在这项研究中，我们计划研究已知的和新的lncRNA，它们在前体细胞分化为成熟脂肪细胞中的作用，在脂肪形成中受到调节。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The mammalian genomes express a large number of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). Only a handful of them, however, have been studied. The known lncRNAs have diverse roles in the cell, mostly in the nucleus, such as chromatin remodeling, transcription, and RNA processing. Adipogenesis is the process that generates adipocytes from precursor cells, which have many implications for human diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. While regulation of protein-coding genes in adipogenesis has been well studied, the role of lncRNAs is completely unclear. We have sequenced the transcriptomes of human and mouse cells undergoing adipogenesis to an unprecedented depth. Our preliminary analysis indicates that a set of lncRNAs are highly regulated during adipogenesis, suggesting their functional roles in the process. In this grant, we plan to examine known and novel lncRNAs that are regulated in adipogenesis for their roles in differentiation of precursor cells into mature adipocytes.