Messenger RNA

Pathology

Translation (biology)

Disease

Nonsense

Nonsense-mediated decay

Biology

Gene

Neurodegeneration

RNA splicing

Computational biology

Genetics

Medicine

Trends in Biochemical Sciences

The term ‘nonsense-mediated mRNA decay’ (NMD) was initially coined to describe the translation-dependent degradation of mRNAs harboring premature termination codons (PTCs), but it is meanwhile known that NMD also targets many canonical mRNAs with numerous biological implications. The molecular mechanisms determining on which RNAs NMD ensues are only partially understood. Considering the broad range of NMD-sensitive RNAs and the variable degrees of their degradation, we highlight here the hallmarks of mammalian NMD and point out open questions.

The broader sense of nonsense