FIGURE 1.

Characterization of lncRNA Fantom3_F830212L20 (Nqo1-AS1) about gene location, distribution and protein coding potential. (A) Fantom3_F830212L20 (Nqo1-AS1) located next to the Nqo1 gene on mouse chromosome 8. Nqo1-AS1 was encoded by the (+) DNA strand, while Nqo1was encoded by the (-) DNA strand. Nqo1-AS1 and Nqo1 formed a “tail to tail” pairing pattern with 460 bp full complementarity. (B) Representative images of H&E and RNA ISH staining for Nqo1-AS1 in lung tissues of chronic CS-induced COPD mouse model and those of control animals. The expression of Nqo1-AS1 was stronger in lung tissues of chronic CS-induced COPD mouse model than those of control animals. The Nqo1-AS1 sense probe was used as a negative control. The Gapdh or U6 RNA probe was used as a positive control. (Claybank, positive staining). (C) Nqo1-AS1 expression in purified nuclear or cytoplasmic RNAs was detected using qPCR. Nqo1-AS1 was enriched in cytoplasm of mle-12 cells. GAPDH served as a control. (D) Nqo1-AS1 was verified to have a very low protein coding potential. The recombinant plasmid pcDNA3.1-EGFP- Nqo1-AS1 (pc-EGFP- Nqo1-AS1), pcDNA3.1-EGFP- Hotair (pc-EGFP- Hotair) or pcDNA3.1-EGFP-Nqo1 (pc-EGFP-Nqo1) was transfected into the mle-12 cells for 72 h. Then the immunofluorescence of cells was observed using a fluorescence microscope. Pc-EGFP-Nqo1 was used as a positive control. Pc-EGFP- Hotair was used as a negative control.*p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01. Data represented the mean ± SEM from three independent experiments.