Review by the Chao lab in Current Opinion in Structural Biology entitled "Insights into mRNA degradation from single-molecule imaging in living cells ".
Highlights
- TREAT allows for single-molecule imaging of RNA degradation in living cells.
- P-bodes are not sites of mRNA degradation.
- iSHiRLoC can be used to image single miRNAs.
- Coupling of single-molecule imaging of translation (SunTag) and RNAs enables nonsense mediated decay to be studied in living cells.
Abstract
Single-molecule fluorescence microscopy techniques have enabled the lifecycle of individual RNA transcripts to be quantitatively measured in living cells. The application of these approaches to monitor mRNA degradation, however, has presented a challenge to unequivocally detect these events due to the inherent loss-of-signal resulting from decay of a transcript. Here, we highlight the recent technological developments that have enabled the spatial and temporal dynamics of mRNA degradation of individual transcripts to be visualized within living cells.
Read the Review in Current Opinion in Structural Biology (Open Access)
Abstract, figure, highlights and title from Dave and Chao (2020) Current Opinion in Structural Biology, 69, 89-95 published under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.O license.