Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Jun 29.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Genet. 2011 Aug 9;27(10):433–439. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2011.06.009

Figure 2.

Figure 2

Possible mechanisms of long noncoding RNA (ncRNA) functions. The mechanisms of long ncRNA regulation of gene expression are still not well understood. From recent studies, the opinion that they work in complexes with proteins is emerging [1–4,19,26,40]. Summarized here is an overview of how long ncRNAs are currently speculated to function. The long ncRNA is expressed from an independent promoter and, in many cases, is spliced and polyadenylated. The structured, processed long ncRNA then associates to specific protein complexes. As both repressive and activating functions of long ncRNAs have been reported, it is likely that several different protein complexes can constitute these factors. The RNA–protein complex is then thought to target the promoter of the regulated gene, causing a conformational change and leading to altered gene expression. Alternatively, the long ncRNA–protein complex could target the nascent mRNA, making RNA–RNA hybrids and, thus, mediating immediately post-transcriptional control of gene expression.