Modification	Function
Addition of 5′ cap	Facilitates binding of ribosome to 5′ end of mRNA, increases mRNA stability, enhances RNA splicing
3′ cleavage and addition of poly(A) tail	Increases stability of mRNA, facilitates binding of ribosome to mRNA
RNA splicing	Removes noncoding introns from pre-mRNA, facilitates export of mRNA to cytoplasm, allows for multiple proteins to be produced through alternative splicing
RNA editing	Alters nucleotide sequence of mRNA