Computational Approaches for Long Non-coding RNA Research

Abstract

Recent advances in high throughput sequencing technologies unveiled that large number of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are transcribed from human genome. Currently, these emerging transcripts are needed to be functionally classified and annotated. Here we review several bioinformatic approaches for analyzing the important characteristics of the lncRNAs toward discovering their functions: 1) tissue specificities of lncRNA expressions, 2) two types of macromolecular interactions (RNA-RNA and RNA-protein interactions), 3) secondary structures of lncRNAs.