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Volume 1, Issue 2, Biomedical Informatics and Smart Healthcare
Volume 1, Issue 2, 2025
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Biomedical Informatics and Smart Healthcare, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2025: 79-88

Open Access | Research Article | 30 September 2025
A Deep Learning Approach for Long Non-coding RNA Identification in Plants: DeepPlnc V2.0
1 School of Bio Science & Bio Engineering, D. Y. Patil International University, Pune 411044, India
2 School of Computer Science, Engineering & Applications, D. Y. Patil International University, Pune 411044, India
* Corresponding Author: Rahul Sharma, [email protected]
Received: 19 May 2025, Accepted: 08 September 2025, Published: 30 September 2025  
Abstract
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are important for plant growth, how plants respond to stress, and their overall development. However, it can be difficult to identify them accurately because they come in many structures and can look similar to coding RNAs. In this study, we introduce DeepPInc V2.0, a new tool that uses deep learning to analyze both the sequence and the secondary structure of RNAs, combining them in a DenseNet-CNN hybrid model. DeepPInc V2.0 outperforms existing tools on various plant datasets, achieving an accuracy of 94.2%, an F1-score of 0.93, and a Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC) of 0.88. It consistently outperforms seven leading tools in this area. Importantly, the model still works well even with incomplete or shortened sequences, which is a common issue in transcriptome studies. When we applied DeepPInc V2.0 to the wheat (Triticum aestivum) transcriptome under heat stress, we found over 27,000 possible lncRNAs. Of these, 1,830 were expressed differently, suggesting they may play a role in helping plants adapt to stress. These results demonstrate that DeepPInc V2.0 is a reliable and accurate platform for identifying lncRNAs in plants, facilitating the study of large RNA collections and understanding the functions of non-coding elements.

Graphical Abstract
A Deep Learning Approach for Long Non-coding RNA Identification in Plants: DeepPlnc V2.0

Keywords
long non-coding RNAs
ensembl
pncStress
PIncDB
DeepPInc

Data Availability Statement
Data will be made available on request.

Funding
This work was supported without any funding.

Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate
Not applicable.

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Cite This Article
APA Style
Pandey, S., & Sharma, R. (2025). A Deep Learning Approach for Long Non-coding RNA Identification in Plants: DeepPlnc V2.0. Biomedical Informatics and Smart Healthcare, 1(2), 79–88. https://doi.org/10.62762/BISH.2025.421075

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