Overview
- UCLA researchers developed RNAtracker, a freely available software method that classifies whether genetic variants act through mRNA production or through transcript stability.
- Applying the approach to publicly available human cell line data, the team identified more than 5,000 variants across 665 genes that alter mRNA stability.
- Many stability-regulated genes map to immune pathways, particularly innate immunity, with several variants overlapping loci previously tied to autoimmune diseases.
- Modeling linked expression patterns of stability-regulated genes to conditions including allergic rhinitis, lupus, diabetes mellitus and multiple sclerosis.
- The work leveraged NIH-supported ENCODE resources and is presented as basic research that will require functional and clinical validation before translation.