Ling-Ling Chen: RNA has its own features; don’t study it as a protein

Abstract

Abstract Non-coding RNA (ncRNA) has been a very active research area over the past 30 years. From small ncRNA – the discovery of RNA interference won the lead researchers the Nobel Prize, to long ncRNA (lncRNA), which has attracted much attention in recent years, various ncRNAs participate in all kinds of biological processes and show a variety of biomedical application prospects. Recently, National Science Review (NSR) interviewed Ling-Ling Chen, a professor at the Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science (CEMCS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology and director of the CAS Key Laboratory of RNA Science and Engineering, to talk about the magic world of RNA. Ling-Ling Chen and her team have been studying ncRNA for more than 10 years, and have witnessed and promoted the development of this field. They discovered unconventional lncRNAs without polyadenylated (polyA) tails or N7-methylguanosine (m7G) caps, including sno-lncRNAs (small nucleolar lncRNAs), SPAs (5' snoRNA capped and 3' polyadenylated RNAs) and circRNAs (circular RNAs), and have made remarkable progress clarifying the biogenetic mechanisms and functions of these RNAs and exploring their biomedical application. Chen said: ‘I am 45 years old. I hope I will not stagnate here, but make new discoveries.’