Figure 3.

Co-regulated lncRNA-mRNA networks, triggered by hazardous copper oxide (CuO), multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and titanium dioxide (TiO₂p/TiO₂r) engineered nanomaterial exposures. Hierarchical clustering based on Pearson’s correlation coefficients between differentially expressed lncRNA and mRNA transcripts, reveals 5 clusters of lncRNA transcripts that are highly correlated (−0.8 < R > 0.8) to at least 15 genes (mRNA) (A). The positively correlated mRNA-lncRNA transcript pairs from the top two correlated clusters; lncRNA (cluster #1 & #3) and mRNA (cluster #1 & #3) are shown in (B). No differentially expressed lncRNA transcripts from the TiO2r exposures are correlated (−0.8 < R > 0.8) to differentially expressed genes. Distribution of lncRNA-associated genes between the CuO, MWCNT, and TiO₂p exposures are shown in (C). Shared and unique lncRNA-associated differentially expressed genes indicate both common and unique epigenetic mechanisms of toxicity.