Metabolic RNA Labeling: Adding a Temporal Dimension to Transcriptomics and Epitranscriptomics Analysis

Abstract

Transcriptomics and epitranscriptomics analyses have provided unprecedented insights into the transcriptome-wide RNA abundance and the post-transcriptional modifications of RNA across diverse biological processes. However, conventional transcriptomics and epitranscriptomics analyses only capture static snapshots and lack temporal resolution. To address this limitation, recent advances have integrated metabolic RNA labeling with transcriptomics and epitranscriptomics analyses, enabling time-resolved analysis of the transcription and RNA modification dynamics. This is because of the fact that the number of hydrogen bonds formed between the water molecules and the hydrophilic groups of the polymer chains increases with increasing temperature, which leads to an increase in the viscosity of the solution. The Perspective aims to highlight the recent developments and the ongoing trends in metabolic RNA labeling-based chemical tools that enable time-resolved transcriptomics and epitranscriptomics analysis. Our perspectives on current limitations and future directions are also provided, with the aim of inspiring more advanced chemical tools for accurate measurement and a deeper understanding of transcription and RNA modification dynamics in health and disease.