The RNA Atlas expands the catalog of human non-coding RNAs

• Published in: Nature biotechnology Vol. 39; no. 11; pp. 1453 - 1465
• Main Authors: Lorenzi, Lucia, Chiu, Hua-Sheng, Avila Cobos, Francisco, Gross, Stephen, Volders, Pieter-Jan, Cannoodt, Robrecht, Nuytens, Justine, Vanderheyden, Katrien, Anckaert, Jasper, Lefever, Steve, Tay, Aidan P, de Bony, Eric J, Trypsteen, Wim, Gysens, Fien, Vromman, Marieke, Goovaerts, Tine, Hansen, Thomas Birkballe, Kuersten, Scott, Nijs, Nele, Taghon, Tom, Vermaelen, Karim, Bracke, Ken R, Saeys, Yvan, De Meyer, Tim, Deshpande, Nandan P, Anande, Govardhan, Chen, Ting-Wen, Wilkins, Marc R, Unnikrishnan, Ashwin, De Preter, Katleen, Kjems, Jørgen, Koster, Jan, Schroth, Gary P, Vandesompele, Jo, Sumazin, Pavel, Mestdagh, Pieter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Nature Publishing Group 01.11.2021
• Subjects: Biology; Biotechnology; Cancer; Cell lines; Gene expression; Gene sequencing; Genes; Human tissues; Humans; Identification and classification; Interrogation; Medical research; MicroRNAs; MicroRNAs - genetics; miRNA; Non-coding RNA; Polyadenylation; Questioning; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA sequencing; RNA, Long Noncoding - genetics; RNA, Messenger; RNA, Untranslated - genetics; Transcriptome - genetics; Transcriptomes; Web portals; Netherlands; Belgium; Australia; United States
• ISSN: 1087-0156; 1546-1696
• DOI: 10.1038/s41587-021-00936-1

Existing compendia of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) are incomplete, in part because they are derived almost exclusively from small and polyadenylated RNAs. Here we present a more comprehensive atlas of the human transcriptome, which includes small and polyA RNA as well as total RNA from 300 human tissues and cell lines. We report thousands of previously uncharacterized RNAs, increasing the number of documented ncRNAs by approximately 8%. To infer functional regulation by known and newly characterized ncRNAs, we exploited pre-mRNA abundance estimates from total RNA sequencing, revealing 316 microRNAs and 3,310 long non-coding RNAs with multiple lines of evidence for roles in regulating protein-coding genes and pathways. Our study both refines and expands the current catalog of human ncRNAs and their regulatory interactions. All data, analyses and results are available for download and interrogation in the R2 web portal, serving as a basis for future exploration of RNA biology and function.