The lncRNAs are long noncoding RNA transcripts without protein-encoding ability that function as regulatory factors for modulating gene expression. In Genes & Development, Lodish and colleagues identify the 2,531-nucleotide intergenic lncRNA lincRNA-EPS, which has potent antiapoptotic activity and is specifically upregulated in terminally differentiating erythroid cells. Assays of RNA-mediated interference and ectopic expression prove that lincRNA-EPS serves an antiapoptotic role without affecting erythroid terminal differentiation. Mechanistically, this is done at least in part through repression of Pycard, which encodes the proapototic adaptor ASC that can activate caspases. The nuclear localization of lincRNA-EPS suggests that it regulates gene expression via the modulation of nuclear events, such as epigenetic modifications, transcription or mRNA splicing, but the exact mechanism remains unclear.

Genes Dev. (8 December 2011) doi:10.1101/gad.178780.111