Advances in long noncoding RNAs: identification, structure prediction and function annotation

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), generally longer than 200 nucleotides and with poor protein coding potential, are usually considered collectively as a heterogeneous class of RNAs. Recently, an increasing number of studies have shown that lncRNAs can involve in various critical biological processes and a number of complex human diseases. Not only the primary sequences of many lncRNAs are directly interrelated to a specific functional role, strong evidence suggests that their secondary structures are even more interrelated to their known functions. As functional molecules, lncRNAs have become more and more relevant to many researchers. Here, we review recent, state-of-the-art advances in the three levels (the primary sequence, the secondary structure and the function annotation) of the lncRNA research, as well as computational methods for lncRNA data analysis.