A famous graphic, now updated, compares locomotion in the animal kingdom

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Published online: 06 October 2025; doi:10.1038/s41580-025-00895-4Co-transcriptional mRNA maturation is a complex, multistep process. This Review focuses on how the development of long-read sequencing methods enabled investigating the timing, coordination and outcomes of alternative uses of transcription start sites, splice sites and polyadenylation sites and their disease implications.

Background Neuropsychiatric disorders are highly complex conditions and the risk of developing a disorder has been tied to hundreds of genomic variants that alter the expression and/or RNA isoforms made by risk genes. However, how these genes contribute to disease risk and onset through altered expression and RNA splicing is not well understood. Results Combining our new bioinformatic pipeline IsoLamp with nanopore long-read amplicon sequencing, we deeply profile the RNA isoform repertoire of 31 high-confidence neuropsychiatric disorder risk genes in Human brain. We show most risk genes are more complex than previously reported, identifying 363 novel isoforms and 28 novel exons, including isoforms which alter protein domains, and genes such as ATG13 and GATAD2A where most expression was from previously undiscovered isoforms. The greatest isoform diversity is detected in the schizophrenia risk gene ITIH4. Mass spectrometry of brain protein isolates confirms translation of a novel exon skipping event in ITIH4, suggesting a new regulatory mechanism for this gene in the brain. Conclusions Our results emphasize the widespread presence of previously undetected RNA and protein isoforms in the human brain and provide an effective approach to address this knowledge gap. Uncovering the isoform repertoire of candidate neuropsychiatric risk genes will underpin future analyses of the functional impact these isoforms have on neuropsychiatric disorders, enabling the translation of genomic findings into a pathophysiological understanding of disease.

Nature Reviews Genetics, Published online: 24 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41576-025-00895-2Haplotype phasing and genotype imputation improve genomic analyses by determining which variants occur together on a chromosome and inferring unobserved varants, respectively. In this Review, Sun and Li describe how tools for haplotype phasing and genotype imputation have evolved to accommodate increasingly larger genomic datasets and new sequencing technologies.

Long-read RNA sequencing enables full-length transcript profiling and improved isoform resolution, but variable platforms and evolving chemistries demand careful benchmarking for reliable application....

Direct RNA-seq in brain reveals RNA isoform and region-specific m6A modifications, highlighting their role in gene regulation.

As summer has finally arrived, things in the ConesaLab have taken a more relaxed tone. To begin the month, Roc Martin came to visit us to learn about long-read transcriptomics. Roc was a participant…

Joint profiling of chromatin and splicing in the brain uncovers shared and distinct patterns.