Characterisation of testis- and ovary- specific long non-coding RNAs

Gonadogenesis is a highly regulated process in the mammalian fetus and disruption can lead to altered sexual development resulting in disorders of sex development (DSDs), which are congenital conditions in which the development of chromosomal, gonadal or anatomical sex is atypical. Many DSDs are currently unexplained at the molecular level, suggesting that genes and/or regulatory mechanisms that are important for gonad development are still unknown. There is emerging data that non-coding RNAs (ncRNA) play a role in many developmental processes. Long ncRNAs are ncRNAs defined as being longer than 200 nucleotides. Not much is known about the role of long ncRNA in regulation of testis and ovary development. Using microarrays techniques, we have identified a number of long ncRNAs, which displayed sexually dimorphic expression during mouse gonad development but no function has yet been assigned. In the current study I aimed to validate the expression of these long ncRNAs and elucidate their cellular function.