Messenger RNA polyadenylylation: a universal modification.

Messenger RNA polyadenylylation: a universal modification.

mRNAs in eukaryotic cells, as every freshman biology student of the last 20 or so years has learned, are almost without exception postranscriptionally modified at their 3' ends by addition of a tract of adenylate residues, the so-called poly(A) tail. In yeasts as well as higher eukaryotes, the poly(A) tail functions in both mRNA turnover and in facilitating translation (reviewed in refs. 1 and ...

A new modification for mammalian messenger RNA.

The discovery of multiple RNA modifications in the past few years has broadened our views of the structures and potential functions of RNA species, but deciphering which modifications are made where and how remains a challenge. A new study by Xu et al. applies a combination of mass spectrometry, biochemistry, genetics, and cellular biology tools to reveal the two mammalian methyltransferases th...

Melatonin: a universal time messenger.

Temporal organization plays a key role in humans, and presumably all species on Earth. A core building block of the chronobiological architecture is the master clock, located in the suprachi asmatic nuclei [SCN], which organizes "when" things happen in sub-cellular biochemistry, cells, organs and organisms, including humans. Conceptually, time messenging should follow a 5 step-cascade. While ab...

The neurofibromatosis type I messenger RNA undergoes base-modification RNA editing.

A functional mooring sequence, known to be required for apolipoprotein B (apoB) mRNA editing, exists in the mRNA encoding the neurofibromatosis type I (NF1) tumor suppressor. Editing of NF1 mRNA modifies cytidine in an arginine codon (CGA) at nucleotide 2914 to a uridine (UGA), creating an in frame translation stop codon. NF1 editing occurs in normal tissue but was several-fold higher in tumors...

Messenger RNA.