Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience (Apr 2024)

Expression characteristics and potential function of non-coding RNA in mouse cortical cells

  • Yanrong Wei,
  • Yanrong Wei,
  • Junjie Lei,
  • Junjie Lei,
  • Yujie Peng,
  • Huizhong Chang,
  • Ting Luo,
  • Yuanchun Tang,
  • Yuanchun Tang,
  • Lifang Wang,
  • Huiying Wen,
  • Huiying Wen,
  • Giacomo Volpe,
  • Longqi Liu,
  • Longqi Liu,
  • Lei Han,
  • Lei Han

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2024.1365978
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17

Abstract

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Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) play essential regulatory functions in various physiological and pathological processes in the brain. To systematically characterize the ncRNA profile in cortical cells, we downloaded single-cell SMART-Seq v4 data of mouse cerebral cortex. Our results revealed that the ncRNAs alone are sufficient to define the identity of most cortical cell types. We identified 1,600 ncRNAs that exhibited cell type specificity, even yielding to distinguish microglia from perivascular macrophages with ncRNA. Moreover, we characterized cortical layer and region specific ncRNAs, in line with the results by spatial transcriptome (ST) data. By constructing a co-expression network of ncRNAs and protein-coding genes, we predicted the function of ncRNAs. By integrating with genome-wide association studies data, we established associations between cell type-specific ncRNAs and traits related to neurological disorders. Collectively, our study identified differentially expressed ncRNAs at multiple levels and provided the valuable resource to explore the functions and dysfunctions of ncRNAs in cortical cells.

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