Silencing of ultra-conserved long non-coding RNA Uc.291 causes delay of keratinocyte differentiation

Development of the skin includes a complicated program of cellular differentiation. Here, we study the role of Uc.291, a long non-coding RNA derived from ultra-conserved region, upregulated in suprabasal layer of the skin and during in vitro differentiation of keratinocytes. Depletion of Uc.291 causes delay of keratinocyte differentiation with decreased levels of the expression of epidermal differentiation complex (EDC) genes. To investigate the effect of Uc.291 depletion on keratinocyte differentiation, we used microarray expression profiling to identify the genes with altered expression. Human normal epidermal keratinocytes (HEKn) were transiently knocked-down by RNA interference and induced to differentiate for 3 days.