snoRNA Families
A collaboration between Rfam and the Scott Lab to build a systematically curated, high-quality collection of snoRNA families.
- Goal
- Review and expand the Rfam snoRNA collection across the box C/D, box H/ACA and scaRNA classes, ensuring that every new family is supported by a validated SEED alignment, a covariance model and a consensus secondary structure. The Scott Lab is building a snoRNA-specific curation pipeline to produce high-quality SEED alignments that capture the structural and functional hallmarks of each class. Combined with snoDB — a specialised database of human and mouse snoRNAs developed by the Scott Lab and listed as an expert database in RNAcentral — this pipeline will allow us to revisit existing snoRNA families and build new ones with broader phylogenetic coverage.
- Status
- Rfam release 15.1 contains 796 snoRNA families.
- Collaborators
- Scott Lab, Université de Sherbrooke — Michelle Scott and Kristina Song.
Background
Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are short noncoding RNAs that guide site-specific chemical modifications of ribosomal and small nuclear RNAs. They are defined by short conserved motifs and a characteristic secondary structure, which classifies them into box C/D and box H/ACA snoRNAs as well as scaRNAs that combine features of both classes. Beyond these canonical roles, snoRNAs are now known to modify a growing list of other RNA targets and to carry out noncanonical functions including regulation of splicing and RNA stability.
Rfam currently classifies 796 snoRNA families, but a substantial fraction of snoRNAs catalogued in resources such as snoDB and the snoRNA Atlas — particularly orphan snoRNAs that lack a known modification target — are not yet represented as Rfam families. The Scott Lab has spent more than a decade curating human snoRNA annotations with a recent update to include mouse snoRNAs and will be bringing that knowledge into Rfam through this project.
snoRNA Classes Covered
| Class | Function |
|---|---|
| Box C/D snoRNAs | Guide 2′-O-methylation of rRNAs |
| Box H/ACA snoRNAs | Guide pseudouridylation of rRNAs |
| scaRNAs | Small Cajal body-specific RNAs that guide modifications of snRNAs; can have C/D-like, H/ACA-like or mixed characteristics |
snoRNA Families Curated in this Project
Families produced directly by the Scott Lab curation pipeline as part of this collaboration — each backed by a manually reviewed SEED alignment and validated covariance model.
| Accession ↕ | Rfam ID ↕ | Description | Sequences ↕ | Species ↕ | Created ↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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10 Newest snoRNA Families
The most recently added snoRNA families in Rfam, ordered by creation date.
| Accession ↕ | Rfam ID ↕ | Description | Sequences ↕ | Species ↕ | Created ↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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10 Most Recently Updated snoRNA Families
The most recently updated snoRNA families in Rfam.
| Accession ↕ | Rfam ID ↕ | Description | Sequences ↕ | Species ↕ | Updated ↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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