Logan Mulroney from the EMBL-EBI in the UK and Italy spoke at the Nanopore Community Meeting in Boston. The title of the session was “A survey of RNA modifications across the human transcriptome by direct RNA nanopore sequencing.” They spoke about RNA modification and their implications in diseases such as cancer. RNA modifications can have implications in the halflife of mRNAs, Mulroney noted. To date, they said, there are over 170 modifications. Specialized equipment has been used to detect specific modifications of interest. Mass spectrometry is used but can be expensive, Mulroney said. With direct RNA sequencing using Oxford Nanopore Technologies, native RNA can be analyzed to detect modifications. Software can compare reads from a sample with and a second without RNA modifications. Two samples can be grown, or in vitro transcription can be used to compare sample signals. Mulroney explained that they can review RNA modifications distributed across the genome. The research team identified m5C and m6A site linkages. While the analyses can be complex, the methodology is being defined to help make these methods more widely available.
