Looking for hints to mark functional lincs

It is generally accepted that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play fundamental roles in different physiological and pathological processes. However, out of the myriad of lncRNAs that have been detected, only a handful have been studied in sufficient detail to determine their function and the molecular mechanisms that support their function. This can be attributed to many reasons, among them the relative novelty of the lncRNA field and the numerous lncRNA genes to study. More importantly, the functional characterization of a particular lncRNA requires a considerable amount of resources, including time, money and technical expertise. It is fundamental to choose only those candidates that deserve such investment, which is not an easy task. At the beginning stages of lncRNA research many scientists will be confronted with long lists of lncRNAs that are, for instance, expressed or deregulated under a certain condition or bound by a specific factor. To select the best candidates for further analyses, it is much-needed to stablish a systematic way to prioritize lncRNAs according to functional traits. One of such efforts has been recently published by Marta Melé and colleagues in the paper entitled “Chromatin environment, transcriptional regulation, and splicing distinguish lincRNAs and mRNAs” (1).