Antisense (cryptic) lncRNA from yeast to human

Among the signals that control the epigenetic landscape, non-coding (nc)RNAs have been identified to play a major role but the generalization and the mechanisms of their activity are still poorly apprehended. Recent data using high-throughput technologies have profoundly changed our view on how the genomes are organized. Indeed transcriptome analyses have shown that large genomic regions are pervasively transcribed producing a broad variety of lncRNA which functions on the epigenome remain to be deciphered. Recent works showed that S. cerevisiae’s genome also supports production of non-coding protein large transcripts, which are strongly controlled by RNA decay pathways. Of specific interest are the lncRNA XUT that we described recently, mostly antisense to class II genes and associated with a consistent regulatory potential through epigenetic modifications. Here, I will present data providing insights on their regulatory activity which is conserved also in S. pombe containing RNAi pathway. The transcription and post-transcription-mediated regulatory activities of antisense transcripts will also be discussed in human cells where we draw an unprecedented landscape of antisense transcription throughout different cell lines.