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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jun 18.
Published in final edited form as: Mol Cell. 2015 Jun 18;58(6):959–969. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2015.01.037

Figure 1. The RNA life cycle.

Figure 1

RNA is transcribed in the nucleus, after which intronic sequences are removed by splicing, a methyl-guanine cap is added to the 5′ end and a poly(A) tail is attached at the 3′ end (figure is not meant to depict an exact order of events). After export to the cytoplasm the mature RNA can be translated by ribosomes, degraded by RNA decay or silenced by microRNAs.