{"doi":"10.1261/rna.065136.117","title":"The life of U6 small nuclear RNA, from cradle to grave","abstract":"<jats:p>Removal of introns from precursor messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) and some noncoding transcripts is an essential step in eukaryotic gene expression. In the nucleus, this process of RNA splicing is carried out by the spliceosome, a multi-megaDalton macromolecular machine whose core components are conserved from yeast to humans. In addition to many proteins, the spliceosome contains five uridine-rich small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) that undergo an elaborate series of conformational changes to correctly recognize the splice sites and catalyze intron removal. Decades of biochemical and genetic data, along with recent cryo-EM structures, unequivocally demonstrate that U6 snRNA forms much of the catalytic core of the spliceosome and is highly dynamic, interacting with three snRNAs, the pre-mRNA substrate, and &gt;25 protein partners throughout the splicing cycle. This review summarizes the current state of knowledge on how U6 snRNA is synthesized, modified, incorporated into snRNPs and spliceosomes, recycled, and degraded.</jats:p>","journal":"RNA","year":2018,"id":34926,"datarank":3.3666899863134527,"base_score":4.867534450455582,"endowment":4.867534450455582,"self_citation_contribution":0.7301301675683375,"citation_network_contribution":2.6365598187451154,"self_endowment_contribution":0.7301301675683375,"citer_contribution":2.6365598187451154,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":129,"citer_count":118,"citers_with_citation_signal":92,"citers_with_endowment":92,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":179974,"name":"Samuel E. 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Didychuk","orcid":"0000-0001-7277-5233","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"base_score":4.867534450455582,"endowment":4.867534450455582,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"29367453","pmcid":"PMC5855946","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W2790140187","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"US National Institutes of Health","grant_id":"R35 GM118131","title":null},{"funder_name":"US National Institutes of Health","grant_id":"R35 GM118075","title":null},{"funder_name":"National Institutes of Health","grant_id":"3R35GM118075-04S1","title":"RNA-based mechanisms in nuclear steps of gene expression"},{"funder_name":"National Institutes of Health","grant_id":"3R35GM118131-05S2","title":"Administrative Supplement: Biophysical investigations of RNA complexes essential for gene expression"}],"total_grants":4,"fwci":4.6378,"citation_percentile":0.95864406,"influential_citations":6,"citation_trend":[{"year":2018,"count":7},{"year":2019,"count":13},{"year":2020,"count":15},{"year":2021,"count":15},{"year":2022,"count":12},{"year":2023,"count":22},{"year":2024,"count":21},{"year":2025,"count":21},{"year":2026,"count":3}],"oa_status":"bronze","license":"CC BY NC","oa_locations":[{"url":"http://rnajournal.cshlp.org/content/24/4/437.full.pdf","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"http://rnajournal.cshlp.org/content/24/4/437.full.pdf","host_type":"BRONZE"},{"url":"http://rnajournal.cshlp.org/content/24/4/437.full.pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://syndication.highwire.org/content/doi/10.1261/rna.065136.117","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1261/rna.065136.117","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29367453","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/5855946","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"http://rnajournal.cshlp.org/cgi/content/short/24/4/437","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5855946","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5855946?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"http://dx.doi.org/10.1261/rna.065136.117","host_type":""},{"url":"https://dx.doi.org/10.1261/rna.065136.117","host_type":""}],"fields_of_study":["RNA Research and Splicing","RNA modifications and cancer","RNA regulation and disease","Medicine","Biology","0301 basic medicine","0303 health sciences","03 medical and health sciences","Humans","Nucleic Acid Conformation","RNA Polymerase III","RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional","RNA Splice Sites","RNA Splicing","RNA, Messenger","RNA, Small Nuclear","Saccharomyces cerevisiae","Spliceosomes"],"mesh_terms":["Humans","Nucleic Acid Conformation","RNA Polymerase III","RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional","RNA Splicing","RNA, Messenger","RNA, Small Nuclear","Saccharomyces cerevisiae","Spliceosomes","RNA Splice Sites"],"keywords":["Biology","RNA","Small nuclear RNA","Computational biology","Genetics","Evolutionary biology","Non-coding RNA","Gene","Spliceosome","U6 Snrna","U6 Gene Transcription","U6 Snrnp","RNA Splicing","RNA Polymerase III","Review","Saccharomyces cerevisiae","RNA, Small Nuclear","Spliceosomes","Humans","Nucleic Acid Conformation","RNA Splice Sites","RNA, Messenger","RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[{"name":"pdb"}],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-06-09T21:49:47.072828Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}