Profiling of lncRNAs and mRNAs in liver, adipose and muscle tissue in mice under representative metabolic conditions

To systemically identify long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) regulating energy metabolism, we performed transcriptome analyses to simultaneously profile mRNAs and lncRNAs in key metabolic organs in mice under pathophysiologically representative metabolic conditions. Of 4759 regulated lncRNAs, function-orientated filters yield 359 tissue-specifically regulated and metabolically sensitive lncRNAs which are predicted by lncRNA-mRNA correlation analyses to function in diverse aspects of energy metabolism. An liver metabolically sensitive lncRNA was experimentally confirmed in mice to suppress lipogenesis by forming a negative feedback loop in the SREBP1c pathway. Taken together, this study supports that a class of lncRNAs function as important metabolic regulators, and establishes a framework for systemically investigating the role of lncRNAs in physiological homeostasis. lncRNA and mRNA expressions were measured in liver, adipose, and muscle tissues from male mice under the following five pathophysiologically representative metabolic conditions: 24h fasting, 4h refeeding following 24h fasting, short term (48 hours) high fat diet feeding, long-term (12 weeks) high-fat diet feeding, and ob/ob mouse. Four to five biological replicates were used in each condition.