With the advent of genome sequencing technologies, researchers began combing genomes for open reading frames (ORFs). To enrich for genuine protein-coding ORFs and to eliminate those random sequences that by chance were bookended by start and stop codons, most ORF-finding algorithms ignored any stretches shorter than 300 nucleotides. Unfortunately, this also meant that many short ORFs encoding micropeptides were missed. Now, new techniques are helping scientists identify tiny ORFs within what were presumed to be long noncoding RNAs.
© BRYAN SATALINO
To search for coding RNAs directly, rather than through the genome, researchers turned their attention to translation and implemented a technique known as ribosome footprinting, which involves isolating and digesting ribosome-associated RNAs to leave only those fragments that are protected by the bound ribosomes. Advances in next-generation ...
