RNA-based Project receives major EU Funding

Researchers at the John Innes Centre have received funding worth nearly €2 million, to support investigations into the role that RNA structure plays in messenger RNA (mRNA) export, ie the movement of information-carrying molecules from the cell nucleus to the cytoplasm where plant proteins are made.

The five-year European Research Council (ERC) consolidator grant will support the Venture Project, described as “a genuinely blue sky, high-risk, high-gain interdisciplinary programme with the potential to provide a breakthrough in understanding at the leading edge of the international RNA biology field,” according to group leader Dr Yiliang Ding. 

A technique developed by the Ding Group known as SHAPE, enables RNA structures to be captured in living plant cells. Previously characterised as skinny or single-stranded, a growing body of knowledge indicates that this molecule can fold itself into complex structures which determine a range of biological functions. 

“This exciting research programme will harness state-of-the-art multi-disciplinary methods to comprehensively investigate functional roles for RNA structure in RNA export,” said Dr Ding. “The potential biological function of mRNA export in regulating cell identity in our work will, for the first time, shed light on our understanding of this remarkable evolutionary nucleus-cytoplasm compartmentalisation. Both novel technologies and new frameworks from this work will have the potential for translation to a broad range of organisms.” 

Dr Ding was one of of 321 elite researchers to benefit from the €657m grant distribution made as part of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme in 2023.The award is her third ERC grant, following  an ERC Starting grant and a Proof-of-Concept grant in 2021.  With projects conducted at universities and research centres in 18 EU Member States, plus other countries associated with Horizon Europe, the grants will potentially create around 1950 jobs for postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, and other staff at the host institutions.  

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom allows for associating the UK to the current EU research and innovation funding programme, Horizon Europe, subject to the adoption of a Protocol.

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