GEN-Thermo_Oct22_MakingThePromiseOf - 39

OVERCOMING mRNA PRODUCTION SCALE-UP CHALLENGES
RNA Modifications Quickly Sussed Out
with Mass Spec Software
" The main features
of Pytheas are
flexible handling of
isotope labeling and
RNA modifications,
with false discovery
rate statistical
validation based on
sequence decoys. "
Getty Images: Christoph Burgstedt
There's more to RNA analysis than determining
nucleotide sequences. There's also the detection of
post-transcriptional modifications (PTxMs). More than
170 PTxMs are known, and they seem to affect various
biological processes-translation and decoding, gene
expression control, bacterial antibiotic resistance,
immunomodulation, development, and human
diseases. Unfortunately, PTxMs haven't been easy to
identify or quantify.
To facilitate the study of PTxMs, scientists at Scripps
Research have developed an open-source software
tool called Pytheas. It automates the analysis of RNA
data from tandem mass spectrometry experiments.
According to the Scripps team, Pytheas is a reliable
tool for analysis of the most abundant PTxMs present
in any cell.
Details about Pytheas appeared in Nature Communications,
in an article titled, " Pytheas: a software
package for the automated analysis of RNA
sequences and modifications via tandem mass
spectrometry. "
" The main features of Pytheas are flexible handling
of isotope labeling and RNA modifications, with
false discovery rate statistical validation based
on sequence decoys, " the article's authors wrote.
" We demonstrate bottom-up mass spectrometry
characterization of diverse RNA sequences, with
broad applications in the biology of stable RNAs,
and quality control of RNA therapeutics and mRNA
vaccines. "
In this article, the researchers showed that Pytheas
can be used to swiftly identify and quantify modified
GENengnews.com | 39

https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home.html https://www.genengnews.com

GEN-Thermo_Oct22_MakingThePromiseOf

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GEN-Thermo_Oct22_MakingThePromiseOf