Long noncoding RNA-mediated anti-apoptotic activity in murine erythroid terminal differentiation
- 1Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA;
- 2Department of Biology,
- 3Department of Bioengineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA
Abstract
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are differentially expressed under both normal and pathological conditions, implying that they may play important biological functions. Here we examined the expression of lncRNAs during erythropoiesis and identified an erythroid-specific lncRNA with anti-apoptotic activity. Inhibition of this lncRNA blocks erythroid differentiation and promotes apoptosis. Conversely, ectopic expression of this lncRNA can inhibit apoptosis in mouse erythroid cells. This lncRNA represses expression of Pycard, a proapoptotic gene, explaining in part the inhibition of programmed cell death. These findings reveal a novel layer of regulation of cell differentiation and apoptosis by a lncRNA.
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Footnotes
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↵5 Corresponding author.
E-mail lodish{at}wi.mit.edu.
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Supplemental material is available for this article.
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Article published online ahead of print. Article and publication date are online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.178780.111.
- Received September 8, 2011.
- Accepted November 7, 2011.
- Copyright © 2011 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
