RNA degradation plays a fundamental role in maintaining cellular homeostasis whether it
occurs as a surveillance mechanism eliminating aberrant mRNAs or during RNA processing
to generate mature transcripts. 3′-5′ exoribonucleases are essential mediators of RNA
decay pathways, and one such evolutionarily conserved enzyme is polynucleotide
phosphorylase (PNPase). The human homologue of this fascinating enzymatic protein
(hPNPase old-35) was cloned a decade ago in the context of terminal differentiation and …