The definition of RNA age related to RNA sequence changes

Abstract

Under certain conditions inside and outside the cell, RNA structure and function change dynamically over time; however, there is a lack of research on the concept of RNA age to describe its diverse fates. This study offers a suitable definition of RNA age to solve this problem. Herein, RNA age is defined as a sequence of numbers, and the elements in the sequence are the ribonucleotide residue ages of the ribonucleotide residues in the RNA. Mean ribonucleotide residue age was used to represent RNA age. This definition describes the temporal properties of RNA that have undergone diverse life histories and reflects the dynamic state of each ribonucleotide residue. When using the mean of the ribonucleotide residue ages to represent the RNA age, events (including base insertion, base deletion, and base substitution) are likely to cause the RNA to become younger or older. In cells, information, including the presence of added markers in RNA, chemical modification structure of the RNA, and the excision of introns in mRNA, may offer a basis for identifying RNA age. However, little knowledge exists about determining the RNA age of extracellular RNA in the wild. I believe that RNA age has an important relationship with diverse biological properties of RNA. The definition of RNA age will offer new perspectives for studying dynamic changes in RNA function, RNA aging, ancient RNA, environmental RNA, and the age of other biomolecules.