2001/09/01 by Jia Yu, Janice Russell · 2 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Biology #Cell biology #Gene #Genetics #Globin #Messenger RNA #Messenger RNP #Molecular biology #RNA #RNA Research and Splicing #RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms #RNA modifications and cancer #Three prime untranslated region #Translation (biology) #Untranslated region
paper · doi:10.1128/mcb.21.17.5879-5888.2001
openalex publication_date 2001/09/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Human globins are encoded by mRNAs exhibiting high stabilities in transcriptionally silenced erythrocyte progenitors. Unlike alpha-globin mRNA, whose stability is enhanced by assembly of a specific messenger RNP (mRNP) alpha complex on its 3' untranslated region (UTR), neither the structure(s) nor the mechanism(s) that effects the high-level stability of human beta-globin mRNA has been identified. The present work describes an mRNP complex assembling on the 3' UTR of the beta-globin mRNA that exhibits many of the properties of the stability-enhancing alpha complex. The beta-globin mRNP complex is shown to contain one or more factors homologous to alphaCP, a 39-kDa RNA-binding protein that is integral to alpha-complex assembly. Sequence analysis implicates a specific 14-nucleotide pyrimidine-rich track within its 3' UTR as the site of beta-globin mRNP assembly. The importance of this track to mRNA stability is subsequently verified in vivo using mice expressing human beta-globin transgenes that contain informative mutations in this region. In combination, the in vitro and in vivo analyses indicate that the high stabilities of the alpha- and beta-globin mRNAs are maintained through related mRNP complexes that may share a common regulatory pathway.