An expanding universe of mRNA modifications

The fate of an mRNA is regulated by internal base modifications that generate the modified nucleotides N-6-methyladenosine, 5-methylcytosine and inosine. Three new studies show that yeast and human mRNAs also contain pseudouridine residues and that pseudouridylation is induced in various stress states, hinting at a new pathway for post-transcriptional control of mRNA.