Single-molecule RNA mapping may reveal how shape shifts steer health and disease

Phys · May 15, 2026 · 619 words · By Agency; Technology; Research; Singapore

Researchers from the A*STAR Genome Institute of Singapore have developed a new technology called 'sm-PORE-cupine' to study the structure of individual RNA molecules. The method combines chemical labeling with nanopore sequencing to analyze how RNA folding affects gene regulation and disease progression.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-05-molecule-rna-reveal-shifts-health.html

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Propaganda Score

confidence: 100%

Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

10 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 6

help Insufficient Evidence 2

info Single Source 1

verified Verified 1

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“Researchers from A*STAR Genome Institute of Singapore (A*STAR GIS) have developed a new method to study individual RNA molecules and reveal how their structures influence gene regulation”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results confirm that A*STAR scientists developed a new method (sm-PORE-cupine) to study individual RNA molecules and their structures.

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web search NEUTRAL — Pronunciation of the name of the letter a in European languages. /a/ and /aː/ can differ phonetically between [a], [ä], [æ] and [ɑ] depending on the language. The earliest known ancestor of A is aleph…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A

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web search NEUTRAL — Children on their own will learn to read and speak the letter A with this fun online activity.
https://www.starfall.com/h/abcs/letter-a/

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web search NEUTRAL — Jul 27, 2020 · Learn to recognize the upper and lowercase letter A, how to write the letter A and the short and long vowel sounds that letter A makes. This series incorporates the modalities of visual…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0PTfZNg9ri8

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“Their work was published in Nature Methods.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources explicitly state the work was published in the journal Nature Methods.

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web search NEUTRAL — Journal information: Nature Methods.A new single-molecule RNA mapping method, sm-PORE-cupine, enables direct detection of RNA structural variations at single-molecule resolution by combining chemical …
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-molecule-rna-reveal-shifts-hea…

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web search NEUTRAL — Published recently in the esteemed journal Nature Methods, this work has already garnered attention for its potential to revolutionize how RNA biology is studied and exploited for human health benefit…
https://scienmag.com/astar-scientists-unveil-novel-technique…

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web search NEUTRAL — Nature Methods is a science methodology journal publishing laboratory techniques and methods papers in the life sciences and areas of chemistry relevant to the life sciences.Latest Research articles. …
https://www.nature.com/nmeth/?error=cookies_not_supported&co…

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“the A*STAR GIS team developed a new technology called "sm-PORE-cupine," which combines chemical labeling with direct RNA sequencing to detect changes in RNA structure.”

CORROBORATED

The technology 'sm-PORE-cupine' is identified across multiple sources as combining chemical labeling and nanopore sequencing to detect RNA structural variations.

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web search NEUTRAL — Children on their own will learn to read and speak the letter A with this fun online activity.
https://www.starfall.com/h/abcs/letter-a/

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“The technology uses optimized chemical compounds to mark non-paired RNA bases”

CORROBORATED

Two independent web results specifically mention the use of optimized chemical compounds to mark non-paired RNA bases.

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web search NEUTRAL — Here, we coupled chemical probing with direct RNA sequencing to identify structure modifications along a single RNA molecule (sm-PORE-cupine).
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-026-03069-y

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web search NEUTRAL — The technique works by using specially optimised chemical compounds to mark non-paired RNA bases, which are areas of the molecule that remain more exposed. These chemical markers act as indicators tha…
https://www.drugtargetreview.com/new-rna-sequencing-method-r…

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web search NEUTRAL — sm-PORE-cupine helps scientists study how individual RNA molecules fold across different transcriptomes (biological samples). The technology uses optimised chemical compounds to mark non-paired RNA ba…
https://www.rna-seqblog.com/astar-scientists-develop-new-met…

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“Nanopore direct RNA sequencing then reads the full-length RNA molecules”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm that nanopore direct RNA sequencing is used to read full-length RNA molecules in this method.

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web search NEUTRAL — Nanopore direct RNA sequencing then reads the full-length RNA molecules, allowing scientists to study their structures in greater detail.
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1128389

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web search NEUTRAL — Nanopore direct RNA sequencing then reads the full-length RNA molecules, allowing scientists to study their structures in greater detail.
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-molecule-rna-reveal-shifts-hea…

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web search NEUTRAL — As direct RNA sequencing continues to improve in read throughput of untreated RNAs, we tested the applicability of sm-PORE-cupine on the new RNA004 kit on the six riboswitches.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-026-03069-y?error=coo…

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“the researchers observed that RNA molecules can adopt different structures, and that these differences are linked to how efficiently proteins are produced and how quickly RNAs are degraded.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for claim 5 consists of irrelevant search results about the letter 'A' and does not contain information regarding protein production or RNA degradation rates.

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web search NEUTRAL — Children on their own will learn to read and speak the letter A with this fun online activity.
https://www.starfall.com/h/abcs/letter-a/

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“This research also provides new insights into how RNA structures influence viral function, including in viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, as well as gene regulation in pathogenic organisms.”

CORROBORATED

Web search results explicitly state the research provides insights into viral function, specifically mentioning SARS-CoV-2 and pathogenic organisms.

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web search NEUTRAL — This research also provides new insights into how RNA structures influence viral function, including in viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, as well as gene regulation in pathogenic organisms.
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20260515/New-technology-re…

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web search NEUTRAL — Influence of RNA Secondary Structure on the Pre-mRNA Splicing Process.
https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/tmcb20

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web search NEUTRAL — Here we experimentally mapped the in vivo RNA-RNA interactome of the full-length SARS-CoV-2 genome and subgenomic mRNAs. We uncovered a network of RNA-RNA interactions spanning tens of thousands of nu…
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33259809/

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“Dr. Wan Yue, Executive Director at A*STAR GIS and lead author”

VERIFIED

EurekAlert! and other A*STAR related search results identify Dr. Wan Yue as the Executive Director at A*STAR GIS and a lead author.

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web search NEUTRAL — Dr Wan Yue, Executive Director at A*STAR GIS and lead author, said, “At A*STAR GIS, we pursue deep scientific understanding to enable better solutions for health and disease.
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1128389

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web search NEUTRAL — The researchers plan to extend their work to discover more non-standard bases in viruses and enhance the AI model’s ability to detect them. “We are excited about this new DNA sequencing method and the…
https://www.a-star.edu.sg/gis/home/press-releases/press-rele…

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web search NEUTRAL — A*STAR GIS advances AI-driven DNA sequencing to decode non-standard bases, transforming genetics research and practical applications.
https://biohackers.media/ai-boosts-nano-dna-decoding-with-no…

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“Co-lead author Dr. Niranjan Nagarajan, Associate Director, AI and Compute, and Senior Group Leader, Laboratory of Metagenomic Technologies and Microbial Systems, A*STAR GIS”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to confirm the role or authorship of Dr. Niranjan Nagarajan.

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“Jiaxu Wang et al, Direct RNA sequencing and signal alignment reveal RNA structure ensembles in a eukaryotic cell, Nature Methods (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41592-026-03069-y”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to verify the specific paper title, author list (Jiaxu Wang et al), date (2026), or DOI.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.

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Single-molecule RNA mapping may reveal how shape shifts steer health and disease

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