Poster Presentation 45th Lorne Genome Conference 2024

Long non-coding (lncRNAs) regulation in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (#203)

Chi Yau Liu 1 , Katherine A Pillman 1 2 , Cameron P Bracken 1 2
  1. Centre for Cancer Biology, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  2. Department of Medicine and School of biological Sciences, University of Adelaide , Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of RNA molecules defined by their length exceeding 200 nucleotides and by the lack of an open reading frame. As with other protein-coding mRNAs, they are transcribed by RNA-Pol II, possess a 5’ m7 Cap and 3’ poly-A tail, and undergo alternative splicing. Although previous studies have documented the existence of over 100,000 lncRNAs, only a fraction of them have been functionally characterized. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) represents a reversible transformation of cells between epithelial and mesenchymal states which plays crucial roles in development, wound healing and metastasis. Extensive gene expression changes are associated with EMT, including lncRNAs, though few reports investigate the significance of such regulatory events. In this project, we have re-mapped bulk-sequencing datasets obtained from our own EMT model (comparing HMLE and mesHMLE cells) to investigate the regulation of lncRNAs across the EMT spectrum. We identified five highly expressed lncRNAs in epithelial cancer cells, which exhibited minimal expression in mesenchymal cells. Our analysis focuses on understanding the contributions of these lncRNAs to various aspects of EMT, including alterations in cell morphology, cell motility, and invasiveness.