RNA dynamics deconstructed
RNA plays a critical role in directing the creation of proteins, but there is more to the life of an RNA molecule than simply carrying DNA’s message. One can imagine that an RNA molecule is born, matures, and, eventually, meets its demise. Researchers at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT have developed an approach that offers many windows into the life cycle of these essential molecules and will enable other scientists to investigate what happens when something in a cell goes wrong. They describe their approach, which offers high resolution and a comprehensive scope, in a Nature Biotechnology article published online on April 24. “People are discovering more and more how the RNA life cycle is at the heart of problems we see in disease, but we actually understand a lot less about it than we understand about many other cellular processes,” said Aviv Regev, a core faculty member of...