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Poly(A) tails: longer is not always better

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Deadenylation of mRNAs is generally associated with translational inhibition and mRNA decay. A study now reports that, unexpectedly, highly expressed genes tend to have shorter poly(A) tails and suggests that poly(A) tails can be 'pruned', generating a 30-nucleotide-biased phased distribution, likely due to protection by poly(A)-binding proteins.

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Figure 1: Phasing of poly(A) tails likely generated by the interaction with PABPs may influence translation efficiency of mRNAs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, Missouri, USA

    Luciana A Castellano & Ariel A Bazzini

  2. the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, USA

    Ariel A Bazzini

Authors
  1. Luciana A Castellano
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  2. Ariel A Bazzini
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Correspondence to Ariel A Bazzini.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Castellano, L., Bazzini, A. Poly(A) tails: longer is not always better. Nat Struct Mol Biol 24, 1010–1011 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.3509

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