Dear Colleagues,

In late 2012, the ENCODE project results evidenced that most of the human genome is transcribed but that only a reduced proportion of these transcripts are translated. This observation, confirmed also in several other organisms, clearly supports a shift of paradigm in the role that RNAs are playing in many cellular processes: from a simple transporter of information from DNA to proteins to a regulatory molecule that can also be involved in the regulation of genome functions, such as in the case of XIST to silence the X chromosome in eukaryotes or in the case of the CRISPR-CAS system to break exogenous DNA in prokaryotes. It is now widely recognized that both short and long noncoding RNAs may have multiple regulatory functions by controlling nuclear architecture and transcription in the nucleus and by modulating mRNA stability, translation, and post-translational modifications in the cytoplasm. Given their broad functional potentials, the characterization of ncRNAs is still a challenging task. In this perspective, advanced computational approaches are essential in the preliminary screening phase to identify the most probable functions. Whatever their origin, size, structure, or function, it is evident that noncoding RNAs are a dynamic, active, and expanding family of necessary molecules, some of them with deep evolutionary history. They are established as appreciated biotechnological tools (e.g., siRNAs, miRNAs, CRISPR-CAS9) confirming that understanding their function has a great impact not only in basic but also in applied research.

The ENCODE project evidenced the functional importance of improperly defined junk DNA. In fact, also DNA regions not associated with protein coding genes can be transcribed to produce noncoding RNAs with no or limited translation capacity. Noncoding RNAs are becoming the major regulatory molecules to shape the phenotypic complexity and, in many cases, to guide cells in pathological states. This Special Issue is focused on, but not limited to, functions of different classes of noncoding RNAs in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. We invite the submission of both reviews and original research articles, including bioinformatic approaches to study variations in expression, post-transcriptional modifications, and the structure of noncoding RNAs, also considering single cell approaches.

Dr. Stefano Cagnin
Prof. Dr. Chiara Romualdi
Guest Editors

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• Noncoding RNAs
• Long noncoding RNAs
• Short noncoding RNAs
• RNA structure
• RNA domains
• DNA/RNA sequencing
• Bioinformatic
• Pathway analysis
• RNA and gene regulation