RNA articles from across Nature Portfolio

Biomolecules morph between conformations with distinct lifetimes according to their functional requirements. Mosquito-borne flaviviruses encode exoribonuclease-resistant RNAs (xrRNAs) that fold into knot-like structures to prevent exonuclease Xrn1 digestion. To achieve high Xrn1 resistance, xrRNAs contain molecular interactions with lifetimes that persist up to ten million times longer than canonical base pairs.

The mechanism of translation initiation in linear and circular mRNAs influences translation efficiency. Covalent attachment of an N⁷-methylguanosine (m⁷G) cap increases protein production from circular mRNAs in mice. Hybridization with capped endogenous RNAs also promotes protein production in cells, suggesting that this interaction might also occur between endogenous RNAs.

RNA modifications are essential for the regulation of cellular processes and have a key role in diseases, however, the differentiation between isomers of nucleosides remains a major challenge in the analysis of RNA modification. Here, the authors show a method with high potential for identification of modifications such as pseudouridine, 3-methylcytidine and others which offers advantages for both sequencing- and MS-based workflows. 

Formation of biomolecular condensates composed of proteins and RNA facilitates the regulation of gene expression by modulating translation or facilitating RNA processing. Now, synthetic ribonucleoprotein granules created with engineered intrinsically disordered proteins selectively sequester mRNA and enhance protein translation in cells. These highly liquid-like condensates exchange biomolecules across the cell and facilitate target mRNA and ribosome partitioning.

Rapid detection of diverse biomarkers is crucial for public health. Here, the authors develop NAPTUNE, a versatile platform that identifies multiple nucleic acids and proteins targets within 45 minutes using a nuclease cascade.

The impact of diet on gut microbiota and metabolites in context of cancer immunotherapy remains elusive. Here the authors reveal ginger-derived exosome-like nanoparticle (GELN) aly-miR159a-3p enhances anti-PD-L1 therapy by increasing microbiota-dependent docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) level thus limiting tumor cell PD-L1 expression.

Biomolecules morph between conformations with distinct lifetimes according to their functional requirements. Mosquito-borne flaviviruses encode exoribonuclease-resistant RNAs (xrRNAs) that fold into knot-like structures to prevent exonuclease Xrn1 digestion. To achieve high Xrn1 resistance, xrRNAs contain molecular interactions with lifetimes that persist up to ten million times longer than canonical base pairs.

The mechanism of translation initiation in linear and circular mRNAs influences translation efficiency. Covalent attachment of an N⁷-methylguanosine (m⁷G) cap increases protein production from circular mRNAs in mice. Hybridization with capped endogenous RNAs also promotes protein production in cells, suggesting that this interaction might also occur between endogenous RNAs.

Using trans-ribozyme-mediated circularization, we have produced circular RNAs that are not limited by RNA sequence or length and that allow for modifications. The synthesized RNAs increase protein expression more than 7,000-fold.

We present an RNA language model-based deep learning pipeline for accurate and rapid de novo RNA 3D structure prediction, demonstrating strong accuracy in modeling single-stranded RNAs and excellent generalization across RNA families and types while also being capable of capturing local features such as interhelical angles and secondary structures.