Potential Roles of Long Non-Coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in Stress Response Regulation

The non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are functional RNA transcripts involved in gene regulation at the level of transcription and post-transcription. There have been vital pieces of evidence to support the role of regulatory non-coding RNAs in the eukaryotic genome in recent years. The ncRNAs are also associated with post-translational modifications such as histone modification, heterochromatin formation, DNA methylation and other key molecules which are involved in regulating chromatin structures for gene expression. LncRNAs (long non-coding RNAs) are the most diverse, biologically active transcripts without significant open reading frames (ORFs) and represent the majority of ncRNAs populations in the human genome. Emerging pieces of evidence suggest the role of ncRNAs in a wide range of human diseases, including cardiovascular, Alzheimer, and cancer. Several reports in the recent past also supported their involvement in the modulation of various cellular responses, although the mechanisms of ncRNAs mediated gene regulations are still not fully understood. This review paper highlights the importance of lncRNAs in cellular stress response such as DNA damaging ionizing radiation that will encourage research in thrust areas of therapeutics and diagnostics. The involvement of important lncRNAs in regulating biological processes, responses to ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, as well as methods for the analysis of their cellular expression has been discussed.