Single nucleotide polymorphism, a putative driver for the role of long intergeneric non-coding RNA.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the most common genetic variants and universally present in human genome. GWASs have identified a great number of diseases or trait-associated SNPs, much of them are located on non-coding regions. Long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) are the major subtype of long non-coding RNAs, lincRNAs act crucial roles in various disorders and cellular models via multiple mechanisms. With the rapid growth of identified lincRNAs and SNPs, there are great demands for the investigation of SNPs in lincRNAs. Hence, we reviewed the putative driver role of SNPs on the function of lincRNAs. Some SNPs may serve as the risk factors for the development of various disorders, especially of cancers, and act as important regulatory signature involved in the modulation of lincRNAs in a tissue or disorder-specific manner. It indicates that lincRNA SNPs would potentially provide additional options for genetic testing, disease risk assessment, and RNA targeting therapeutics in the personalized medicine era.