@article {1211, title = {Extension of human lncRNA transcripts by RACE coupled with long-read high-throughput sequencing (RACE-Seq).}, journal = {Nature communications}, volume = {7}, year = {2016}, month = {2016}, pages = {12339}, abstract = {Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) constitute a large, yet mostly uncharacterized fraction of the mammalian transcriptome. Such characterization requires a comprehensive, high-quality annotation of their gene structure and boundaries, which is currently lacking. Here we describe RACE-Seq, an experimental workflow designed to address this based on RACE (rapid amplification of cDNA ends) and long-read RNA sequencing. We apply RACE-Seq to 398 human lncRNA genes in seven tissues, leading to the discovery of 2,556 on-target, novel transcripts. About 60\% of the targeted loci are extended in either 5{\textquoteright} or 3{\textquoteright}, often reaching genomic hallmarks of gene boundaries. Analysis of the novel transcripts suggests that lncRNAs are as long, have as many exons and undergo as much alternative splicing as protein-coding genes, contrary to current assumptions. Overall, we show that RACE-Seq is an effective tool to annotate an organism{\textquoteright}s deep transcriptome, and compares favourably to other targeted sequencing techniques.}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/ncomms12339}, url = {http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12339}, author = {Lagarde, Julien and Uszczynska-Ratajczak, Barbara and Santoyo-L{\'o}pez, Javier and Gonzalez, Jose Manuel and Tapanari, Electra and Mudge, Jonathan M and Steward, Charles A and Wilming, Laurens and Tanzer, Andrea and Howald, C{\'e}dric and Chrast, Jacqueline and Vela-Boza, Alicia and Antonio Rueda and L{\'o}pez-Domingo, Francisco J and Dopazo, Joaquin and Reymond, Alexandre and Guig{\'o}, Roderic and Harrow, Jennifer} }