Description
Although thousands of long noncoding RNAs(lncRNAs) are localized in the nucleus, only a fewdozen have been functionally characterized. Herewe show that nuclear enriched abundant transcript1 (NEAT1), an essential lncRNA for the formation ofnuclear body paraspeckles, is induced by influenzavirus and herpes simplex virus infection as well asby Toll-like receptor3-p38 pathway-triggered polyI:C stimulation, resulting in excess formation ofparaspeckles. We found that NEAT1 facilitates theexpression of antiviral genes including cytokinessuch as interleukin-8 (IL8). We found that splicingfactor proline/glutamine-rich (SFPQ), a NEAT1-bindingparaspeckle protein, is a repressor of IL8 transcription,and that NEAT1 induction relocates SFPQfrom the IL8 promoter to the paraspeckles, leadingto transcriptional activation of IL8. Together, ourdata show that NEAT1 plays an important role inthe innate immune response through the transcriptionalregulation of antiviral genes by the stimulusresponsivecooperative action of NEAT1 and SFPQ.