| Literature DB >> 20534564 |
Eyal Kamhi1, Oleg Raitskin, Ruth Sperling, Joseph Sperling.
Abstract
The translation initiator-tRNA plays a crucial role in the initiation of protein synthesis in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, by employing specific base pairing between its anticodon triplet CAU and the general initiation codon AUG in the mRNA. Here we show that the initiator-tRNA may also act, in a manner that is independent of its role in protein translation, as a pre-mRNA splicing regulator. Specifically, we show that alternative splicing events that are induced by mutations in the translation initiation AUG codon can be suppressed by expressing initiator-tRNA constructs carrying anticodon mutations that compensate for the AUG mutations. These mutated initiator-tRNAs appeared to be uncharged with an amino acid. Our results imply that recognition of the initiation AUG sequence by the anticodon triplet of initiator-tRNA in its unloaded state plays a role in quality control of splicing in the cell nucleus by a yet unresolved mechanism. Identifying the initiator-tRNA as a transacting splicing regulator suggests a novel involvement of this molecule in splicing regulation and provides a critical step toward deciphering this intriguing mechanism.Mesh：
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Year: 2010 PMID： 20534564 PMCID： PMC2895067 DOI： 10.1073/pnas.0911561107
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A ISSN： 0027-8424 Impact factor: 11.205