Small non-protein-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) play key roles in regulatory networks shaping cellular life [1]. Even though the ribosome plays a pivotal role in gene expression, not a single ncRNA has been found so far that directly binds and regulates the ribosome. In this project we have analyzed the ncRNA interactome of stressed yeast ribosomes via a novel computational pipeline (APART; [2]) designed to detect RNA processing products from next-generation-sequencing data.
We revealed and experimentally verified multiple novel ncRNAs that were differentially processed in a stress-dependent manner.

This work was carried out by Marek Zywicki and Kamilla Bakowska-Zywicka in the group of Prof. Norbert Polacek.

References:

1. A. Hüttenhofer, P. Schattner, N. Polacek;
   "Non-coding RNAs: hope or hype?"
   Trends Genet., 21, 289-297, (2005); doi:10.1016/j.tig.2005.03.007.
2. M. Zywicki, K. Bakowska-Zywicka, N. Polacek;
   "Revealing stable processing products from ribosome-associated small RNAs by deep-sequencing data analysis"
   Nucleic Acids Res., 40, 4013-4024, (2012); doi:10.1093/nar/gks020.