Identification of lung‐specific genes by meta‐analysis of multiple tissue RNA‐seq data

Lung‐specific genes play critically important roles in lung development, lung physiology, and pathogenesis of lung‐associated diseases. We performed a meta‐analysis of multiple tissue RNA‐seq data to identify lung‐specific genes in order to better investigate their lung‐specific functions and pathological roles. We identified 83 lung‐specific genes consisting of 62 protein‐coding genes, five pseudogenes and 16 noncoding RNA genes. About 49.4% of lung‐specific genes were implicated in the pathogenesis of lung diseases and 21.7% were involved with lung development. The identification of genes with enriched expression in the lung will facilitate the elucidation of lung‐specific functions and their roles in disease pathogenesis.