RNA interference uncouples the function of a long noncoding RNA product from that of its transcription [HB2]

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) regulate gene expression via their RNA product or through transcriptional interference, yet a strategy to differentiate these two processes is missing. We employed siRNAs to specifically target GNG12-AS1, a lncRNA overlapping the tumour suppressor DIRAS3, transcriptionally or post-transcriptionally. lncRNA transcriptional silencing by siRNA was mediated by Argounate 2 and led to the upregulation of DIRAS3 transcription through switch in RNA polymerase II binding and active histone marks. Conversely, post-transcriptional silencing of GNG12-AS1 had no effect on DIRAS3 expression. Thus, our findings reveal how RNAi machinery can be used to decouple the process and products of lncRNA transcription. The goal of this study was to identify genes regulated by long noncoding RNA GNG12-AS1 in human cells RNA was extracted from human cells (HB2, SUM159) treated with control and GNG12-AS1 siRNAs. The analysis was performed with six biological replicates for each cell line.