Plant long non-coding RNAs: biologically relevant and mechanistically intriguing

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a group of RNAs greater than 200 nucleotides in length exhibiting low or no coding potential that are involved in diverse biological functions through their molecular interaction with proteins, DNA, or other RNAs. With the emergence of advanced high-throughput RNA sequencing technologies, tens of thousands of novel long non-coding RNAs have been identified in plant transcriptomes in the last decade. More importantly, functional studies revealed that several lncRNAs play key regulatory roles in plant development and stress responses. In this review, we focus on summarizing recent progress uncovering regulatory roles and mechanisms of lncRNAs during the plant life cycle, and briefly discuss the possible biotechnological applications of lncRNAs for plant breeding.