Current frontiers in RNA research

Abstract

The biological importance of RNA has expanded as our appreciation of the complexity of its multiple types, structures, chemical compositions and biological roles. Research in RNA has been instrumental in revealing insights into fundamental biological processes including: the organization of information within genomes, the mechanisms of control of gene expression at the transcriptional (providing scaffolds for transcription factors and chromatin-modifying proteins) and post-transcriptional (RNA editing and modifications, translation, sponging) levels, spatiotemporal localization of elements involved in developmental and cell biology, and the evolution of first RNA genomes. Most recently, studies of RNA have expanded their clinical roles as diagnostics to the realm of therapeutic treatment for detected diseases. Finally, advances in RNA studies have been prompted by and contributed to the development of many novel methodological and computational approaches. The future of RNA research will add even more to our understanding of the origins of endophenotypes and these findings will be the focus of the Frontiers in RNA Research.