The central dogma of gene expression is that DNA is transcribed into messenger RNAs,
which in turn serve as the template for protein synthesis. The discovery of extensive
transcription of large RNA transcripts that do not code for proteins, termed long noncoding
RNAs (lncRNAs), provides an important new perspective on the centrality of RNA in gene
regulation. Here, we discuss genome-scale strategies to discover and characterize
lncRNAs. An emerging theme from multiple model systems is that lncRNAs form extensive�…