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RNA decay is the process by which ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules are enzymatically degraded. RNA decay is a regulated event and serves to control levels of particular RNA molecules. A specific example is nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD), a process that eliminates transcripts containing premature stop codons.
Min and colleagues study post-transcriptional regulation in the malaria parasite. They describe opposing actions of the DDX6-family RNA helicase complex on the decay and protection of specific mRNA targets during development and stress conditions.
Research on Arabidopsis indicates that RNA decay, PTGS pathway, GC content, and spatial-temporal gene expression impact ct-siRNA production, vital for gene silencing during plant growth and stress responses.
This study analyzes the embryonic replacement of maternally contributed mRNA with new mRNA in single cells and shows dynamic spatio-temporal regulation of maternal mRNA decay and cell-type specific retention within the earliest specified cell types in zebrafish embryos.
Studying RNA decay remains a challenging task. Here, the authors present a technology that enables inducible rapid degradation of targeted mRNAs. Visualizing mRNA decay dynamics unveils insights into P-body function in RNA metabolism.
Here the authors uncovered CNOT3, a subunit of the CCR4-NOT complex, as an essential modulator of translation in leukemia. The work pointed to the potential of targeting the posttranscriptional circuitry via CNOT3 as a therapeutic vulnerability in acute myeloid leukemia.
Here, using mathematical modeling and an in vitro deadenylation system, the authors quantitatively demonstrate the effect of non-adenosines in the poly(A) tail and exemplify how tail sequence regulates mRNA stability.
Predicting RNA degradation is a fundamental task in designing RNA-based therapeutic agents. Dual crowdsourcing efforts for dataset creation and machine learning were organized to learn biological rules and strategies for predicting RNA stability.