RNA methylation and diseases: experimental results, databases, Web servers and computational models

Area of Science:

• Molecular Biology
• Genomics
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• RNA methylation is a crucial posttranscriptional modification found across all life forms.
• It plays a significant role in biological processes and is implicated in various human diseases.
• Recent advancements in high-throughput sequencing have accelerated RNA methylation research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the fundamental aspects of RNA methylation, including its types, functions, and disease associations.
• To introduce computational tools, databases, and web servers for analyzing RNA methylation data.
• To analyze current computational models, identify their limitations, and suggest future research directions.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of RNA methylation types, functions, and disease relevance.
• Introduction to publicly available databases and web servers for RNA methylation analysis.
• Analysis of state-of-the-art computational models for RNA methylation site identification and differential analysis.

Main Results:

• Overview of eight common RNA methylation types and five key RNA methylation-related diseases.
• Compilation of seven RNA methylation-related databases and relevant web servers/software.
• Detailed analysis of computational models, including their strengths and weaknesses.

Conclusions:

• Effective bioinformatics techniques are essential for understanding RNA methylation from sequencing data.
• Existing computational models offer valuable tools but have limitations that need addressing.
• Future research should focus on developing advanced computational models to further RNA methylation studies.