About this Research Topic

Background

Signaling governs essential cellular processes including proliferation, division, differentiation, migration, and death, which form the basis of organisms' activities in neuronal transduction, metabolism, stress response and immune defense, etc. As a fast-developing field, novel signaling molecules, effectors, structural components, and their interacting networks are continuously identified. Besides the classical protein-protein interactions, RNA binding proteins (RBPs) interplaying with their RNA partners is general requirement for the proper function of both RNAs and proteins. Recent progress has disclosed many RNAs are robustly involved in signaling protein modifications (phosphorylation, acetylation, ubiquitination, etc.), while writers, readers, erasers of RNA modifications (m1A, m6A, m5C, etc.) play critical roles in initiating or modulating signaling pathways. In the development, differentiation, stress response and reprogramming of stem cells and cancer, a large amount of signaling events and potential new signaling molecules still need to be explored. Characterizing the key RNA-protein interactions and downstream signaling mechanisms would profoundly deepen our understanding of signaling and provide novel targets for translational applications.

In the past decades, many novel signaling pathways and events regulated by RNA-protein interactions have been characterized. Here, we would like to provide a platform for new progressions deepening our understanding of the mechanisms, actions, effector molecules, structural components, molecular interactions, and interconnection networks of RNA-protein interplay-regulated signaling in stem cells and cancer.

This Research Topic is open for research articles and reviews from biological, medical, and biochemical studies related to stem cells and cancer. Functional and mechanistic researches involving omics (genomics, transcriptomics, epitranscriptomics and proteomics) analysis, RNA or protein modifications and following signaling events regulated by RNA-protein interactions, are all welcome.

1. De novo identification of novel signaling pathways, cellular activities or pathophysiological processes regulated by mRNA/LncRNA-protein interactions.
2. Identification of novel RNAs that are involved in the modifications (phosphorylation, acetylation, ubiquitination, etc.) of signaling proteins.
3. Identification of novel writers, readers, erasers of RNA modifications (m1A, m6A, m5C, etc.) and their roles in signaling leading to neuronal transduction, stress response, reprogramming, immune response, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition, etc.
4. RNA-protein interactomes research involving genomics, transcriptomics, epitranscriptomics and proteomics.
5. Novel technique advances used for exploring all aspects of signaling regulated by RNAs.

Keywords: RNA-protein interaction, Signaling, Cancer, Stem cell, RNA modification, LncRNAs

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