LncRNAs: Current understanding, future directions, and challenges

1 CURRENT UNDERSTANDING OF LNCRNAS Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of regulatory RNA molecules that have captured the attention of researchers in recent years due to their diverse roles in development, physiological and pathological processes. 1-6 Unlike the conventional protein-coding genes, which have been extensively studied and characterized, lncRNAs were once considered 'genomic noise' or transcriptional byproducts with little functional relevance. However, with the advances in genomics and transcriptomics, as well as the establishment of multiple databases and related resources, 7-9 the intricate world of lncRNAs has been revealed, becoming an emerging frontier field in biomedical sciences and agriculture.