ABSTRACT

The findings that an RNA is not necessarily either coding or non-coding, or that a precursor RNA can produce different types of mature RNAs, whether coding or non-coding, long or short, have challenged the dichotomous view of the RNA world almost 15 years ago. Since then, and despite an increasing number of studies, the diversity of information that can be conveyed by RNAs is rarely searched for, and when it is known, it remains largely overlooked in further functional studies. Here, we provide an update with prominent examples of multiple functions that are carried by the same RNA or are produced by the same precursor RNA, to emphasize their biological relevance in most living organisms. An important consequence is that the overall function of their locus of origin results from the balance between various RNA species with distinct functions and fates. The consideration of the molecular basis of this multiplicity of information is obviously crucial for downstream functional studies when the targeted functional molecule is often not the one that is believed.

摘要

RNA 不一定是编码或非编码的，或者前体 RNA 可以产生不同类型的成熟 RNA，无论是编码的还是非编码的，长的或短的，这一发现几乎挑战了 RNA 世界的二分法观点 15几年前。从那时起，尽管研究数量不断增加，但很少有人研究 RNA 可以传达的信息的多样性，而且当它知道时，在进一步的功能研究中仍然很大程度上被忽视。在这里，我们提供了由相同 RNA 携带或由相同前体 RNA 产生的多种功能的突出例子的更新，以强调它们在大多数生物体中的生物学相关性。一个重要的结果是，它们的起源位点的整体功能来自具有不同功能和命运的各种 RNA 物种之间的平衡。当目标功能分子通常不是人们所相信的时，考虑这种多样性信息的分子基础显然对下游功能研究至关重要。