Latest RNA splicing Stories
A team of scientists at the CSIC has shown that temperature can play a critical role in the control of splicing. The team led by Josep Vilardell, ICREA scientist at the CSIC's Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona, has demonstrated that temperature, through its effects on RNA structure, can control how the genetic information will be processed. The results of this work are published this week in Molecular Cell. Hiding intronic cues For some time, scientists have been trying to...
How the protein U2AF builds mRNA for protein productionScientists at the Technical University of Munich and the Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen and along with their colleagues from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona have discovered how the U2AF protein enables the pre-mRNA* to be spliced to form the mRNA*, which serves as a template for protein synthesis in the body.Splicing requires the cooperation of different...
Many more hereditary diseases than previously thought may be caused, at least in part, by errors in pre-mRNA splicing, according to a computer analysis by Brown University scientists. That could be good news because research suggests it may be possible to fix bad splicing.A new Brown University computer analysis that predicts the effect of genetic mutations on how the body splices mRNA indicates as many as a third of disease-related mutations may be linked to splicing problems "” more than...
Genetic splicing mechanism triggers both premature aging syndrome and normal cellular agingNational Institutes of Health researchers have identified a new pathway that sets the clock for programmed aging in normal cells. The study provides insights about the interaction between a toxic protein called progerin and telomeres, which cap the ends of chromosomes like aglets, the plastic tips that bind the ends of shoelaces.The study by researchers from the National Human Genome Research Institute...
SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Molecular Devices, a leading provider of instruments, software, and consumables for drug discovery and life sciences research, announced the launch of the GenePix® SL50 Slide Loader and GenePix® Pro 7.2 Software for an accelerated microarray workflow. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100406/SF82092LOGO) Research needs change continually as science advances; Molecular Devices designed the SL50 Slide Loader as a modular...
Amish population in Ohio has large numbers of MOPD1Researchers have identified a genetic mutation found in the Ohio Amish population as the cause of a fatal developmental disease in fetuses and infants, according to research published in the April 8, 2011, issue of Science.The genetic mutation is caused by a defect during the cellular protein-making process, causing microcephalic osteodysplastic primoridal dwarfism type 1 (MOPD1), a rare developmental disorder that greatly slows fetal growth...
Fetuses with defects in a molecular machine that edits information cells use to make proteins can develop a rare form of dwarfism, according to a new study led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center "“ Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC "“ James).The defect, triggered by a tiny gene mutation, causes microcephalic osteodysplastic primoridal dwarfism type 1 (MOPD1), a rare developmental disorder that greatly...
Lasers used to study splicing of pre-messenger RNA moleculesFrom neurosurgery to bar code readers, lasers have been used in a myriad of applications since they were first introduced in the late 1950's. Now, with the work being done in Jeff Gelles' Lab at Brandeis University, researchers have developed a way to use lasers to study the splicing of pre-messenger RNA molecules, an essential process in creating proteins to sustain advanced organisms, including human life. This process of splicing...
DNA was originally thought to have a single function: to help cells make the proteins they need. Any DNA that is not immediately required to produce proteins was written off as "junk" and deemed unworthy of study. Recently, however, it has become clear that junk DNA performs a wide range of important tasks. As a result, attention is shifting to asking why some organisms have so much of it and other organisms so little. A particular puzzle is posed by so-called "introns",...
Implications for brain diseases such as epilepsy, according to Penn studyCells have their own version of the cut-and-paste editing function called splicing. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have documented a novel form of splicing in the cytoplasm of a nerve cell, which dictates a special form of a potassium channel protein in the outer membrane. The channel protein is found in the dendrites of hippocampus cells -- the seat of memory, learning, and spatial...
