Molecular Guardian of RNA (IMAGE)

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Molecular Guardian of RNA

Caption

From gene expression to protein. Pre-mRNA is the direct transcript of a gene, but before it is made into proteins, it needs to be processed to form messenger RNA (mRNA), including splicing of introns and joining of exons, as well as cleavage/polyadenylation at the end of the transcript. The splicing reaction is mediated by the spliceosome, usually comprised of U1, U2, U4/U5 and U6 snRNPs that come together on each intron. U1, an abundant component of the splicing machinery, binds to the 5' splice site of introns for splicing, but in addition, as the Nature study shows, it also protects pre-mRNAs from premature termination.

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The Dreyfuss Laboratory; University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

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