Destroy this (RNA) message after reading it!

Traditionally, mRNA decay was considered a simple destruction step of mRNA. This view has been challenged in the past years and mRNA decay now appears as an essential step in the regulation of gene expression. We first present a short review of the different reactions involved in mRNA decay, as well as some indications on their cellular location. Then, we describe two processes in which mRNA decay plays an essential role: (1) the mRNA quality control mechanisms that get rid of aberrant mRNAs (nonsensE-mediated decay, non-stop decay, no-go decay); (2) the regulation of mRNA stability through the targeting of specific factors to the mRNA (proteins or small non-coding RNAs).