Uridylation, the addition of uridine residues to RNA molecules, is a key mechanism regulating messenger RNA stability in eukaryotes. Although this process is known to influence RNA degradation, its biological role during plant development has remained poorly characterized to date.
By optimizing an innovative nanopore-based sequencing approach, researchers led by Hélène Zuber at the IBMP in Strasbourg established a global landscape of mRNA uridylation in Arabidopsis thaliana.
Published in The Plant Cell, this study, conducted in collaboration with the team of Szymon Świezewski at the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw (Poland), highlights the central role of the enzyme URT1 in seed maturation and reveals its involvement in transcriptome reprogramming as well as in the regulation of seed dormancy.
