Unveiling Plant Long Noncoding RNAs: Insights from Single-Cell Studies

Scientists have recently discovered a new set of long noncoding RNAs, called lincRNAs, by examining single-cell transcriptomes from various plant tissues, including rice, Arabidopsis, tomato, and maize. These lincRNAs are as specific to certain cell types as messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and play crucial roles in cell differentiation, as shown by pseudo-time analysis. Surprisingly, many lincRNAs act as hubs in cell-type-specific co-expression networks involving both lincRNAs and mRNAs, indicating they can regulate genes that are not nearby (trans-acting).Additionally, some lincRNAs may control neighboring genes (cis-acting), based on their proximity and expression patterns. To help researchers explore these findings, an online platform called PscLncRNA (http://ibi. zju. edu. cn/psclncrna/) has been created. This work sheds new light on plant lincRNAs and offers a valuable resource for future studies.