Exploring the epitranscriptome by native RNA sequencing
- 1Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona 08003, Spain
- 2School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
- 3Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona 08002, Spain
- Corresponding authors: j.mattick{at}unsw.edu.au, eva.novoa{at}crg.eu
Abstract
Chemical RNA modifications, collectively referred to as the “epitranscriptome,” are essential players in fine-tuning gene expression. Our ability to analyze RNA modifications has improved rapidly in recent years, largely due to the advent of high-throughput sequencing methodologies, which typically consist of coupling modification-specific reagents, such as antibodies or enzymes, to next-generation sequencing. Recently, it also became possible to map RNA modifications directly by sequencing native RNAs using nanopore technologies, which has been applied for the detection of a number of RNA modifications, such as N6-methyladenosine (m6A), pseudouridine (Ψ), and inosine (I). However, the signal modulations caused by most RNA modifications are yet to be determined. A global effort is needed to determine the signatures of the full range of RNA modifications to avoid the technical biases that have so far limited our understanding of the epitranscriptome.
Keywords
This article, published in RNA, is available undera Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
