Integrative classification of human coding and non-coding genes based on RNA metabolism profiles

The pervasive transcription of the human genome results in a heterogeneous mix of coding and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). Only a small fraction of lncRNAs possess demonstrated regulatory functions, making it difficult to distinguish functional lncRNAs from non-functional transcriptional byproducts. This has resulted in numerous competing classifications of human lncRNA that are complicated by a steady increase in the number of annotated lncRNAs.\n\nTo address these challenges, we quantitatively examined transcription, splicing, degradation, localization and translation for coding and non-coding human genes. Annotated lncRNAs had lower synthesis and higher degradation rates than mRNAs, and