What Are the Most Exciting Areas of RNA Research Today?

[Ygggdrasil]

Today (AUG 1) is RNA Day, an international celebration of one of the most versatile biomolecules in existence. This year, in particular, we are reminded of the importance of RNA biology as a pandemic caused by an RNA virus has disrupted life worldwide.

What are some areas of RNA research that excite you most? Here are some recent papers/topics on RNA biology that have been on my mind recently:

Targeting PTBP1, an RNA binding protein, could help regenerate neurons:
Glia-to-Neuron Conversion by CRISPR-CasRx Alleviates Symptoms of Neurological Disease in Mice
Reversing a model of Parkinson’s disease with in situ converted nigral neurons

The role of R-loops (formed by the hybridization of mRNA and DNA at transcription bubbles) in regulating transcription and genome stability:
Regulatory R-loops as facilitators of gene expression and genome stability
R-loops coordinate with SOX2 in regulating reprogramming to pluripotency

RNA modifications can regulate transcription through regulation of chromatin-associated regulatory RNAs:
N6-methyladenosine of chromosome-associated regulatory RNA regulates chromatin state and transcription

(Here's the link to last year's RNA day thread with more good reading: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/happy-rna-day.952500/)

 

[BillTre]

Cool.

The thing I find most interesting in the last few years is the determination of a cells transcriptome (all the RNA's it is expressing at a particular time) and comparisons between different stages of development, different cell types and different species.
Using cleaver molecular techniques, the cell lineages leading to the transcriptional states can also be determined.

Cell type atlas and lineage of a whole complex animal by single-cell transcriptomics.

Single-cell mapping of gene expression landscapes and lineage in the zebrafish embryo.

A cell's total expression of RNA is often thought to largely define a cell's "cell type", an old, but theoretically important biological concept that has not been well defined.

The evolution of new cell types is considered important to the generation of novel structures in evolution.
Tracking their lineages as they develop shows how new cell types can be generated during embryonic development.

 

[Andrew Mason]

A belated Happy RNA day to everyone! (Sorry I missed it).

How about the RNA transcripts of pseudogenes that have a function, not as mRNA to make proteins, but in interfering (RNAi) with functional mRNA to regulate gene expression.

AM