A DIStinctively novel exoribonuclease that really likes U

Abstract

Regulated degradation plays a major role in determining the levels of both non-coding (miRNA) and coding (mRNA) transcripts. Thus, insights into the factors and pathways that influence this process have broad, interdisciplinary implications. New findings by Malecki et al (2013), Lubas et al (2013), and Chang et al (2013) identify the protein Dis3L2 as a major player in the 30-50 exonucleolytic decay of transcripts. Furthermore, they demonstrate a strong connection between terminal uridylation of the RNA substrate and enzymatic activity. © 2013 European Molecular Biology Organization.