Structure-driven function of plant lncRNAs: conserved RNA architectures in transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as critical regulators of plant development, physiology, and environmental stress adaptation. Despite exhibiting limited primary sequence conservation across the plant kingdom, emerging evidence underscores that plant lncRNA functionality is encoded at the level of RNA secondary structure, facilitating diverse modes of structure-mediated gene regulation. In this review, we synthesize recent advances in elucidating the structural conservation, and molecular functions of plant lncRNAs. We further discuss their expanding regulatory repertoire and assess their potential utility as innovative molecular tools for crop improvement.