Bioinformatics resources for RNA editing

Abstract

RNA editing is a widespread co/posttranscriptional mechanism affecting primary RNAs by specific nucleotide modifications, which plays relevant roles in molecular processes including regulation of gene expression and/or processing of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). In recent years, the detection of editing sites has been greatly improved through the availability of high-throughput RNA sequencing technologies. Several pipelines, employing various read mappers and variant callers with a wide range of adjustable parameters, are currently available for the detection of RNA editing events. Hereafter, we describe some of the most recent and popular tools and provide guidelines for the detection of RNA editing in massive transcriptome data.