Topics and Trends in Most Cited RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms Papers

Ranked by citations 18 months after publication

Class of 2026 (Papers Published in 2024)

What topics and trends defined most-cited RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms research in the Class of 2026?

The Class of 2026 highlights a shift in RNA and protein synthesis research from broad epitranscriptomic profiling to specific mechanisms like mRNA stability, pseudouridine, and 2'-O-methylation. Structural insights via cryo-electron microscopy continue to drive innovation, alongside an increasing translational focus on mRNA therapeutics.

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Updated July 15, 2026

At a glance

Field
RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
Cohort label
Class of 2026 (2024 publications)
Papers analyzed
8,083
Papers ranked
20
Top topics in ranked papers
mRNA stability, N6-methyladenosine (m6A), cryo-electron microscopy
Publication window
Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024
Eligibility
Research articles; reviews excluded
Citation window
18 months post-publication
18m citation range
44–369
Data source
OpenAlex · Retrieved Jul 2026
License
CC BY 4.0

Rankings

20 papers ranked by 18-month citation count

#1 of 8,083
36918m citations

Sequence modeling and design from molecular to genome scale with Evo

Eric Nguyen, Michael Poli, Matthew G Durrant, Brian Kang, Dhruva Katrekar, David B Li et al.Science202410.1126/science.ado9336

Eric Nguyen, Michael Poli, Matthew G. Durrant, Brian Kang, Dhruva Katrekar, David Li, Patrick D. Hsu, Brian HieArc Institute, United States

Evolong-context genomic foundation modelprokaryotic genomesphage genomesscaling laws on DNAzero-shot predictionCRISPR-Cas system generationtransposon system generationprotein-RNA codesignprotein-DNA codesignvariant effect predictionwhole-organism fitnessmegabase-scale sequence generation3D genome organizationcross-modality generalizationDNA language modelRNA language modelprotein language model
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#2 of 8,083
14818m citations

The diversity of splicing modifiers acting on A -1 bulged 5 -splice sites reveals rules for rational drug design

Florian Malard et al.HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)202410.1093/nar

Florian MalardARNA - Acides Nucléiques : Régulations Naturelle et Artificielle (IECB - 2 rue Robert Escarpit 33607 Pessac. - France), France

splicing modifiersA-1 bulged 5'-splice sitesstructure-based drug designsplice site recognitionU1 snRNA base pairingbulged adenosinespliceosome assemblysplicing correctionsmall molecule modulatorssplice site strengthexon inclusionmRNA splicingstructure-activity relationshipsU1 snRNPcryptic splice sites
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#5 of 8,083
8918m citations

De novo variants in the RNU4-2 snRNA cause a frequent neurodevelopmental syndrome

Ruebena Dawes, Hyung Chul Kim, Alicia Ljungdahl, Sarah L Stenton, Susan Walker et al.Nature202410.1038/s41586-024-07773-7

Ruebena Dawes, Hyung Chul Kim, Alicia Ljungdahl, Sarah L Stenton, Susan WalkerUniversity of Oxford, United Kingdom

RNU4-2U4 small nuclear RNAneurodevelopmental disordersde novo variantsU4/U6.U5 tri-snRNP complexmajor spliceosomen.64_65insTT-loopstem IIIU4/U6 snRNA duplexmaternal allele bias5' splice-sitespliceosome activationnon-coding RNAgenome sequencing cohortsRNA sequencingRNU4-1developing human brain expression
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#6 of 8,083
7618m citations

Metabolic Recoding of NSUN2‐Mediated m<sup>5</sup>C Modification Promotes the Progression of Colorectal Cancer via the NSUN2/YBX1/m<sup>5</sup>C‐ENO1 Positive Feedback Loop

Baoxiang Chen et al.Advanced Science202410.1002/advs.202309840

Xiaoyu Xie, Xianghai Ren, Jianhong Zhao, Congqing JiangZhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, China

5-methylcytosine (m5C)NSUN2YBX1ENO1colorectal cancer (CRC)m5C methyltransferasem5C reader proteinglucose metabolism reprogramminglactic acid productionhistone H3K18 lactylation (H3K18la)NSUN2 K356 lactylationNSUN2/YBX1/m5C-ENO1 positive feedback looppost-transcriptional regulationmetabolic reprogrammingepigenetic remodelingRNA modificationsNSUN2 inhibitorimmunotherapy combinationoncogenic functionlactylation-mediated transcriptional activation
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#7 of 8,083
7218m citations

DNA damage induces p53-independent apoptosis through ribosome stalling

Rafaela A Oliveira, Pierré-René Körner, Adva Kochavi et al.Science202410.1126/science.adh7950

Rafaela A. Oliveira, Pierre-René Körner, Adva Kochavi, Reuven Agami, Thijn R. BrummelkampOncode Institute, Netherlands

p53-independent apoptosisDNA damageribosome stallingUUA codonstranslation inhibitionSLFN11GCN2ZAKαribotoxic stresstRNA anticodon targetingleucine-encoding codonstranslation initiationgenetic screenribosome sensorchemotherapy resistancecell fate signaling
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#8 of 8,083
7018m citations

m6A sites in the coding region trigger translation-dependent mRNA decay

You Zhou et al.Molecular Cell202410.1016/j.molcel.2024.10.033

Kathi Zarnack, Julian KönigGoethe University Frankfurt, Germany

N6-methyladenosine (m6A)coding sequence (CDS)CDS-m6A decay (CMD)translation-dependent mRNA decayribosome stallingprocessing bodies (P-bodies)YTHDF2m6A reader3' untranslated region (3' UTR)mRNA stabilitydevelopmental regulatorsretrogenesm6A depositiontranscript destabilizationinternal mRNA modification
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#9 of 8,083
6518m citations

A 5′ UTR language model for decoding untranslated regions of mRNA and function predictions

Yanyi Chu et al.Nature Machine Intelligence202410.1038/s42256-024-00823-9

Mengdi WangPrinceton University, United States

5' UTRuntranslated regionsmRNAlanguage modeltranslational regulationribosome bindingtranslation initiationUTR function predictionregulatory elementsdeep learningsequence-to-function mappingRNA secondary structureKozak sequenceupstream open reading framestranslation efficiency
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#10 of 8,083
6118m citations

Branched chemically modified poly(A) tails enhance the translation capacity of mRNA

Hongyu Chen et al.Nature Biotechnology202410.1038/s41587-024-02174-7

Xiao WangMassachusetts Institute of Technology, United States

branched poly(A) tailschemically modified poly(A) tailsmultitailed mRNAmRNA translation capacitymRNA stabilityprotein expression durationsynthetic poly(A) tailstopologically modified mRNAcapped branched mRNAmultiplexed genome editingPcsk9Angptl3mouse livermRNA therapeuticsmRNA transfectionin vivo protein expression
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#12 of 8,083
5018m citations

IGF2BP3 promotes mRNA degradation through internal m7G modification

Chang Liu, Xiaoyang Dou, Yutao Zhao et al.Nature Communications202410.1038/s41467-024-51634-w

Chuan HeThe University of Chicago, United States

IGF2BP3mRNA degradationm7G modificationMETTL1–WDR4 complexIGF2BP family proteinsIGF2BP1IGF2BP2N6-methyladenosine (m6A)TP53 transcript3'UTR m7G methylationglioblastomadCas13b-guided systemsite-specific m7G targetingmRNA half-life regulationmRNA stabilitychemosensitivitycancer progressionRNA methylation reader proteins
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#13 of 8,083
4818m citations

Adding α,α-disubstituted and β-linked monomers to the genetic code of an organism

Daniel L Dunkelmann, Carlos Piedrafita et al.Nature202410.1038/s41586-023-06897-6

Jason W. ChinMedical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, United Kingdom

tRNA displayorthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetasesnon-canonical monomersβ-amino acidsα,α-disubstituted amino acidsβ-hydroxy acidsorthogonal tRNAsgenetic code engineeringribosomal substratesevolutionary deadlocksite-specific incorporationEscherichia colinon-canonical amino acidssynthetase selectiontRNA acylationmacrocyclic peptidesdepsipeptidesencoded polymer synthesis
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#14 of 8,083
4718m citations

DDX21 mediates co-transcriptional RNA m6A modification to promote transcription termination and genome stability

Jin-Dong Hao et al.Molecular Cell202410.1016/j.molcel.2024.03.006

Qian-Lan Liu, Yun‐Gui Yang, Jie RenChinese Academy of Sciences, China

DDX21co-transcriptional RNA m6A modificationtranscription terminationgenome stabilityRNA helicaseN6-methyladenosine (m6A)METTL3METTL14m6A writer complexR-loopstranscription-replication conflictsRNA processingchromatin associationDNA damagenascent RNAepitranscriptome
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#15 of 8,083
4718m citations

snoRNA-facilitated protein secretion revealed by transcriptome-wide snoRNA target identification

Bei Liu et al.Cell202410.1016/j.cell.2024.10.046

Tao Pan, Chuan HeThe University of Chicago, United States

snoRNAsmall nucleolar RNA2'-O-methylationpseudouridinesnoRNA-mRNA interactionschemical crosslinkingtranscriptome-wide target identificationnon-canonical snoRNA functionsSNORA73secretory proteinsmembrane proteins7SL RNASignal recognition particleprotein secretionmRNA-SNORA73-7SL RNA interactionsRNA modification siteshuman cellsmouse brain tissue
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#16 of 8,083
4618m citations

Optimizing 5’UTRs for mRNA-delivered gene editing using deep learning

Sebastian Castillo-Hair, Stephen Fedak, Ban Wang et al.Nature Communications202410.1038/s41467-024-49508-2

Georg SeeligUniversity of Washington, United States

5'UTR optimizationmRNA therapeuticssequence optimizationpolysome profilingtranslation efficiencyrandomized 5'UTR librariesgradient descent optimizationgenerative neural networksmegaTAL gene editing enzymesmRNA-delivered gene editingcross-cell-type UTR performanceUTR-cargo specificityediting efficiency correlation
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#17 of 8,083
4618m citations

Deep-m5U: a deep learning-based approach for RNA 5-methyluridine modification prediction using optimized feature integration

Sumaiya Noor et al.BMC Bioinformatics202410.1186/s12859-024-05978-1

Nijad AhmadPurdue University, United States

5-methyluridinem5U modification predictionDeep-m5Upseudo-K-tuple nucleotide compositionSHAPdeep neural networkFull Transcript datasetMature mRNA datasetdiscriminant feature selection10-fold cross-validationsequence optimizationRNA modification predictorhybrid feature encoding
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#18 of 8,083
4518m citations

The structure of a human translation initiation complex reveals two independent roles for the helicase eIF4A

Jailson Brito Querido, Masaaki Sokabe et al.Nature Structural & Molecular Biology202410.1038/s41594-023-01196-0

Christopher S. Fraser, V. RamakrishnanMRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, United Kingdom

translation initiation complexeIF4FeIF4A helicasecap-binding complexmRNA exit channelmRNA entry site40S ribosomal subunitmRNA secondary structure unwindingstart codon recognitionmRNA scanningmRNA recruitmentcryo-electron microscopyeIF4F-43S interactions
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#19 of 8,083
4518m citations

Discovering Consensus Regions for Interpretable Identification of RNA N6-Methyladenosine Modification Sites via Graph Contrastive Clustering

Guodong Li et al.IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics202410.1109/jbhi.2024.3357979

Guodong LiChinese Academy of Sciences, China

N6-methyladenosine (m6A)m6A modification sitesconsensus regionsgraph contrastive clusteringinstance graph constructionmotif-aware graph reconstructioninterpretable identificationRNA sequence embeddingpost-transcriptional modificationnucleotide position and type integrationgraph clusteringmotif-level predictioncross-species validationevolutionary relationship analysisdeep learning modelM6A-DCR
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Dominant research themes and year-over-year shifts in RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms

What Topics Define the Class of 2026?

The research landscape is strongly defined by fundamental and applied studies of RNA modifications and structural biology. Topics such as mRNA stability, N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modifications, and high-resolution techniques like cryo-electron microscopy lead the cohort, underscoring the deep mechanistic focus of current studies. Epitranscriptomic modifications, including pseudouridine and 2'-O-methylation, also emerged as central themes. Furthermore, as fundamental insights translate into clinical applications, mRNA therapeutics continues to shape the trajectory of research in RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms.

Leading research themes
Leading research themes

How Did Topics Shift from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2026?

The transition between cohorts reveals a distinct move toward highly specific RNA modifications and their therapeutic utilities. We observe significant rises in studies exploring pseudouridine and 2'-O-methylation, which show dramatic fold changes. Conversely, broader topics such as general epitranscriptomics and ribosome profiling, along with nonspecific m6A reader research, experienced relative declines. This shift suggests that the field is maturing past broad profiling efforts and focusing on the precise molecular impacts of distinct modifications on translation and stability.

How topics shifted year over year
How topics shifted year over year
Methodology

PRI identifies high-impact research using a transparent, topic-agnostic framework applied consistently across scientific domains. Bibliographic records are drawn from OpenAlex, including publication dates, citation relationships, and document types.

This ranking covers the Class of 2026 cohort: journal articles published in 2024. Reviews and other non-article document types are excluded to ensure comparability.

Research impact is quantified with an 18-month post-publication citation window—the number of citing works published within 18 months of each paper's publication date. This metric captures early impact while controlling for publication age.

An LLM-based relevance classifier then reviews each candidate's title and abstract to confirm substantive alignment with the target domain. Only papers classified as relevant appear in the final ranking.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459

Full methodologyGitHubbioRxiv preprint

Cite this ranking

Pepkio Research Index (PRI). Topics and Trends in Most Cited RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms Papers, Class of 2026. https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/rna-and-protein-synthesis-mechanisms/2026. Accessed 2026-07-15.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459