mRNA degradation and translation are two processes crucial for
posttranscriptional gene regulation. While the strong interconnection of
mRNA degradation and translation has been noted for many years, it has led
to the hypothesis that mRNAs could be degraded on the ribosome.
We have recently published a study that strongly supports the hypothesis
that the ribosome is a very general site not only for general 5' to 3'
mRNA degradation in Drosophila but also for the miRNA-mediated mRNA
degradation pathway: