Bacterial mRNAs begin with a triphosphate on the first transcribed nucleotide, but RNase E, the endonuclease long thought to initiate mRNA decay in Escherichia coli, only works well on RNA with a ...

In eukaryotic cells, mRNA decay is catalyzed by two major pathways, and both can be initiated by deadenylation of the polyadenylated (poly-A) tail. After decapping, 5’ to 3’ RNA degradation is ...