The ribosome epitranscriptome: Inert - or a platform for functional plasticity?
- ↵* Corresponding author; email: schwartz{at}weizmann.ac.il
Abstract
A universal property of all rRNAs explored to date is the prevalence of post-transcriptional (‘epitranscriptional’) modifications, which expand the chemical and topological properties of the four standard nucleosides. Are these modifications an inert, constitutive part of the ribosome? Or could they, in part, also regulate the structure or function of the ribosome? In this review we summarize emerging evidence that rRNA modifications are more heterogeneous than previously thought, and that they can also vary from one condition to another, such as in the context of a cellular response or a developmental trajectory. We discuss the implications of these results, and key open questions on the path towards connecting such heterogeneity with function.
Keywords
- Received June 9, 2021.
- Accepted July 2, 2021.
- Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the RNA Society
This article, published in RNA, is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
