Fig. (3).

lncRNAs as activators of transcription. (top) The process of lncRNA transcription and not the transcript itself could be responsible for cis activation of neighboring genes by maintaining or initiating the chromatin structure in an active state. (bottom) lncRNAs can be packaged with transcript-specific proteins into lncRNPs to selectively activate gene expression in cis. Protein-coding genes are represented by orange and green boxes. lncRNA genes are illustrated in grey. Transcription start sites (TSSs) are indicated by bent arrows. Thick red bent arrows indicate active protein coding genes and thick black arrows active lncRNA genes. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this paper).