GOLLD RNAs were originally detected based on metagenome sequences of DNA isolated from Lake Gatun in Panama.

[1] The GOLLD RNA in Lactobacillus brevis ATCC 367 was studied experimentally.

[1] This GOLLD RNA is apparently encoded by a prophage, and its transcription is increased during the phage lytic cycle.

Therefore, this GOLLD RNA presumably serves a function that is useful to the phage during this process.

In addition to the relatively large size and high degree of structural complexity of these RNA motifs, they both are only sometimes located in prophages and often located nearby to tRNAs.