Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Bioinformatics and Genomics Graduate Program, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Trends Biochem Sci. 2015 Apr;40(4):221-32. doi: 10.1016/j.tibs.2015.02.005. Epub 2015 Mar 18.
RNA folds into intricate structures that enable its pivotal roles in biology, ranging from regulation of gene expression to ligand sensing and enzymatic functions. Therefore, elucidating RNA structure can provide profound insights into living systems. A recent marriage between in vivo RNA structure probing and next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized the RNA field by enabling transcriptome-wide structure determination in vivo, which has been applied to date to human cells, yeast cells, and Arabidopsis seedlings. Analysis of resultant in vivo 'RNA structuromes' provides new and important information regarding myriad cellular processes, including control of translation, alternative splicing, alternative polyadenylation, energy-dependent unfolding of mRNA, and effects of proteins on RNA structure. An emerging view suggests potential links between RNA structure and stress and disease physiology across the tree of life. As we discuss here, these exciting findings open new frontiers into RNA biology, genome biology, and beyond.
RNA 折叠成复杂的结构，使其在生物学中发挥关键作用，范围从基因表达调控到配体感应和酶功能。因此，阐明 RNA 结构可以为生命系统提供深刻的见解。最近，体内 RNA 结构探测与下一代测序（NGS）的结合通过在体内进行全转录组结构测定彻底改变了 RNA 领域，迄今为止，该方法已应用于人类细胞、酵母细胞和拟南芥幼苗。对体内产生的“RNA 结构组”的分析提供了关于众多细胞过程的新的和重要的信息，包括翻译控制、选择性剪接、选择性多聚腺苷酸化、mRNA 依赖能量的解折叠以及蛋白质对 RNA 结构的影响。一个新兴的观点表明，在生命之树中，RNA 结构与应激和疾病生理学之间存在潜在联系。正如我们在这里讨论的那样，这些令人兴奋的发现为 RNA 生物学、基因组生物学以及其他领域开辟了新的前沿。
