The RNA-binding protein AUF1 binds AU-rich elements in 3'-untranslated regions to regulate mRNA degradation and/or translation. Many of these mRNAs are predicted microRNA targets as well. An emerging theme in post-transcriptional control of gene expression is that RNA-binding proteins and microRNAs co-regulate mRNAs. Recent experiments and bioinformatic analyses suggest this type of co-regulati...

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) quantification is an essential technique in biology. There has been remarkable progress RNA techniques over the recent years; however, specificity of these to quantify a very small amount doubtful because factors which can inhibit precise quantification. To develop that leads most sensitive quantification, problems must be overcome. In this article, we first review RNA: q...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) replicates its DNA genome through reverse transcription of a viral RNA pregenome. We report herein that the interferon (IFN) stimulated exoribonuclease gene of 20 KD (ISG20) inhibits HBV replication through degradation of HBV RNA. ISG20 expression was observed at basal level and was highly upregulated upon IFN treatment in hepatocytes, and knock down of ISG20 resulted in...

The characteristics of degradation of reticulocyte ribonucleic acid (RNA) and ribosomes were studied in a whole erythroid cell lysate system. The process followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics, and indicated that RNA degradation in the erythroid cell is mediated by an enzyme previously isolated from reticulocyte hemolysates. Erythroid cell RNase activity had a temperature optimum of 50 degrees C, a...

Eukaryotic RNA quality control (RQC) uses both endonucleolytic and exonucleolytic degradation to eliminate dysfunctional RNAs. In addition, endogenous and exogenous RNAs are degraded through post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS), which is triggered by the production of double-stranded (ds)RNAs and proceeds through short-interfering (si)RNA-directed ARGONAUTE-mediated endonucleolytic cleava...

The abundance of a transcript is determined by its rate of synthesis and its rate of degradation; however, global methods for quantifying RNA abundance cannot distinguish variation in these two processes. Here, we introduce RNA approach to equilibrium sequencing (RATE-seq), which uses in vivo metabolic labeling of RNA and approach to equilibrium kinetics, to determine absolute RNA degradation a...

The mechanisms responsible for mRNA decay in mammalian cells, and how specific sequence elements accelerate decay, are unknown. Recent work indicates that 'ARE' instability elements recruit the exosome to promote rapid 3'-to-5' degradation of the mRNA.

Post-transcriptional control determines the fate of cellular RNA molecules. Nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) provides quality control of mRNA, targeting faulty cellular transcripts for degradation by multiple nucleases including the RNA exosome. Recent findings have revealed a role for NMD in targeting viral RNA molecules, thereby restricting virus infection. Interestingly, NMD is also linked to i...

This review focuses on the enzymes and pathways of RNA processing and degradation in Bacillus subtilis, and compares them to those of its gram-negative counterpart, Escherichia coli. A comparison of the genomes from the two organisms reveals that B. subtilis has a very different selection of RNases available for RNA maturation. Of 17 characterized ribonuclease activities thus far identified in ...

The mechanisms by which multi-potent stem cells switch their program to become functional differentiated cells have intrigued biologists for decades. Most focus has been on transcriptional pathways, but whether they have sufficient dynamic range to cause discrete shifts in cell state is not clear. Because the steady-state level of RNAs is also dictated by their decay rate, an attractive possibi...