Posttranscriptional RNA modifications involve a chemical change of nucleotides without altering the primary nucleotide sequence, thus comprising another layer of information that is essential to regulation of gene expression. N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) and pseudouridine are the most abundant modifications in eukaryotic RNAs modulate RNA stability and processing, nuclear export, codon recognition and decay. Despite the importance and high prevalence of the posttranscriptional modifications, their effect on dynamics of translation are not fully understood. My project focuses on elucidating the effect of different modifications in translation initiation and termination with mechanistic precision using a variety of approaches, including in vitro transcription, deep-sequencing, single-molecule approaches and structural analysis.
