mRNAs, even within an organism, have vast differences in stabilities, ranging many orders of magnitude, but the mechanistic basis of this heterogeneity is poorly understood.

Recent findings show aberrant translation by a ribosome on an mRNA greatly modulates the stability of the mRNA.

Coupling of mRNA stability to translation helps inform and resolve outstanding mechanistic issues in the field of microRNA-mediated repression.

Regulation of mRNA stability through translation appears to be a widely used mechanism in regulation of gene expression.