Long non-coding RNAs during normal erythropoiesis

The transcription of essentially the entire eukaryotic genome produces a huge amount of non-coding RNAs. Among them, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) consist of a significant portion that widely exists across mammal genome, generating from high-throughput transcriptomic studies in the last decade. Although the functions of most lncRNAs remain to be further investigated, many of them have already been shown to play critical roles during normal development and disease conditions. Increasing evidence indicates that lncRNAs involve in versatile biological processes during erythroid proliferation and differentiation, including erythroid cell survival, heme metabolism, globin switching and regulation, erythroid enucleation, etc, via cis- or trans-mediated molecular mechanisms. In this review, we focus on recent advances regarding the functions and mechanisms of lncRNAs in normal erythropoiesis.