Widespread Influence of 3′-end Structures on Mammalian mRNA Processing and Stability [DIM-2P-seq]

Understanding the physiological relevance of structures in mammalian mRNAs remains elusive, especially considering the global unfolding of mRNA structures in eukaryotic organisms recently examined, as well as the decade-long observation that mRNAs generally seem no more likely than random sequences to be stably folded. Here we show that RNA secondary structures, mostly weak and close-to-random, facilitate the 3′-end processing of thousands of human mRNAs by juxtaposing poly(A) signals (PASs) and cleavage sites that are otherwise too far apart. Folding of these 3′-end structures also enhances mRNA stability. Global structure probing shows that 3′-end regions are indeed folded in cells despite substantial unfolding of PAS-upstream regions. Analyses of thousands of ectopically expressed variants prove that folding both enhances processing and increases stability. Mutagenesis of a genomic locus further implicates structure-controlled processing in regulating neighboring gene expression. These results reveal widespread roles for RNA structure in mammalian mRNA biogenesis and metabolism. Comparing mutational patterns of RNA 3' ends with and without DMS treatment