RNA Sequencing Unveils Very Small RNAs With Potential Regulatory Functions in Bacteria

International audienceRNA sequencing (RNA-seq) is the gold standard for the discovery of small non-coding RNAs. Following a long-standing approach, reads shorter than 16 nucleotides (nt) are removed from the small RNA sequencing libraries or datasets. The serendipitous discovery of an eukaryotic 12 nt-long RNA species capable of modulating the microRNA from which they derive prompted us to challenge this dogma and, by expanding the window of RNA sizes down to 8 nt, to confirm the existence of functional very small RNAs (vsRNAs