scholarly journals Single-stranded RNA oligonucleotides that recruit endogenous hnRNPA1 enable the targeted reduction of gene expression

Author(s):  
Justin Melendez ◽  
Ananya Pal ◽  
Sidharth Puram ◽  
Robi Mitra

Targeted gene knockdown has become one of the most powerful tools in molecular biology and holds substantial promise in therapeutic applications. While existing technologies such as siRNAs, CRISPRi, and ASOs effectively and specifically reduce gene expression, few can be used to first discover the genes that influence a particular phenotype and then directly transition to being used as oligonucleotide therapeutics. Thus, a tool that could help bridge the gap between target discovery and the development of therapeutic leads would benefit the scientific community. Here, we present hnRNPA1 recruiting oligonucleotides, or AROs, as single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) molecules that knockdown transcript levels of target genes. AROs target specific pre-mRNA transcripts via sequence homology and leverage the ubiquitous and abundant endogenous RNA-binding protein hnRNPA1 to degrade target transcripts. Using RT-qPCR, we show that AROs effectively knock down target genes when delivered via a plasmid and expressed using a Pol II promoter or when delivered directly as single-strand RNAs. Additionally, as proof of principle, we use a ssRNA ARO to knockdown KRT14 in squamous cell carcinoma and show reduced invasive potential. We believe AROs fill an important niche in the scientific toolbox by taking advantage of endogenous RNA binding machinery for RNA knockdowns.

Antioxidants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 552
Author(s):  
Jasmine Harley ◽  
Benjamin E. Clarke ◽  
Rickie Patani

RNA binding proteins fulfil a wide number of roles in gene expression. Multiple mechanisms of RNA binding protein dysregulation have been implicated in the pathomechanisms of several neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction also play important roles in these diseases. In this review, we highlight the mechanistic interplay between RNA binding protein dysregulation, oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction in ALS. We also discuss different potential therapeutic strategies targeting these pathways.


Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 361
Author(s):  
Myeongwoo Jung ◽  
Eun-Kyung Lee

HuD (also known as ELAVL4) is an RNA–binding protein belonging to the human antigen (Hu) family that regulates stability, translation, splicing, and adenylation of target mRNAs. Unlike ubiquitously distributed HuR, HuD is only expressed in certain types of tissues, mainly in neuronal systems. Numerous studies have shown that HuD plays essential roles in neuronal development, differentiation, neurogenesis, dendritic maturation, neural plasticity, and synaptic transmission by regulating the metabolism of target mRNAs. However, growing evidence suggests that HuD also functions as a pivotal regulator of gene expression in non–neuronal systems and its malfunction is implicated in disease pathogenesis. Comprehensive knowledge of HuD expression, abundance, molecular targets, and regulatory mechanisms will broaden our understanding of its role as a versatile regulator of gene expression, thus enabling novel treatments for diseases with aberrant HuD expression. This review focuses on recent advances investigating the emerging role of HuD, its molecular mechanisms of target gene regulation, and its disease relevance in both neuronal and non–neuronal systems.


2018 ◽  
Vol 154 (6) ◽  
pp. S-585
Author(s):  
Sarah F. Andres ◽  
Kathy N. Williams ◽  
Kathryn E. Hamilton ◽  
Rei Mizuno ◽  
Jeff Headd ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 286 (43) ◽  
pp. 37063-37066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip J. Uren ◽  
Suzanne C. Burns ◽  
Jianhua Ruan ◽  
Kusum K. Singh ◽  
Andrew D. Smith ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 295 (42) ◽  
pp. 14291-14304
Author(s):  
Kathrin Bajak ◽  
Kevin Leiss ◽  
Christine Clayton ◽  
Esteban Erben

In Trypanosoma brucei and related kinetoplastids, gene expression regulation occurs mostly posttranscriptionally. Consequently, RNA-binding proteins play a critical role in the regulation of mRNA and protein abundance. Yet, the roles of many RNA-binding proteins are not understood. Our previous research identified the RNA-binding protein ZC3H5 as possibly involved in gene repression, but its role in controlling gene expression was unknown. We here show that ZC3H5 is an essential cytoplasmic RNA-binding protein. RNAi targeting ZC3H5 causes accumulation of precytokinetic cells followed by rapid cell death. Affinity purification and pairwise yeast two-hybrid analysis suggest that ZC3H5 forms a complex with three other proteins, encoded by genes Tb927.11.4900, Tb927.8.1500, and Tb927.7.3040. RNA immunoprecipitation revealed that ZC3H5 is preferentially associated with poorly translated, low-stability mRNAs, the 5′-untranslated regions and coding regions of which are enriched in the motif (U/A)UAG(U/A). As previously found in high-throughput analyses, artificial tethering of ZC3H5 to a reporter mRNA or other complex components repressed reporter expression. However, depletion of ZC3H5 in vivo caused only very minor decreases in a few targets, marked increases in the abundances of very stable mRNAs, an increase in monosomes at the expense of large polysomes, and appearance of “halfmer” disomes containing two 80S subunits and one 40S subunit. We speculate that the ZC3H5 complex might be implicated in quality control during the translation of suboptimal open reading frames.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (18) ◽  
pp. 1357
Author(s):  
Chengcheng Xu ◽  
Dandan Ke ◽  
Liping Zou ◽  
Nianyu Li ◽  
Yingying Wang ◽  
...  

In this study, the ability of cold-induced RNA-binding protein (CIRBP) to regulate the expression of Src-associated during mitosis of 68 kDa (Sam68) and extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) in the mouse testis and mouse primary spermatocytes (GC-2spd cell line) before and after heat stress was examined to explore the molecular mechanism by which CIRBP decreases testicular injury. A mouse testicular hyperthermia model, a mouse primary spermatocyte hyperthermia model and a low CIRBP gene-expression cell model were constructed and their relevant parameters were analysed. The mRNA and protein levels of CIRBP and Sam68 were significantly decreased in the 3-h and 12-h testicular heat-stress groups, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) protein expression was not significantly affected but phospho-ERK1/2 protein levels were significantly decreased. GC-2spd cellular heat-stress results showed that the mRNA and protein concentrations of CIRBP and Sam68 were reduced 48h after heat stress. In the low CIRBP gene-expression cell model, CIRBP protein expression was significantly decreased. Sam68 mRNA expression was significantly decreased only at the maximum transfection concentration of 50nM and Sam68 protein expression was not significantly affected. These findings suggest that CIRBP may regulate the expression of Sam68 at the transcriptional level and the expression of phospho-ERK1/2 protein, both of which protect against heat-stress-induced testicular injury in mice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Giovanna Garone ◽  
Nicol Birsa ◽  
Maria Rosito ◽  
Federico Salaris ◽  
Michela Mochi ◽  
...  

AbstractMutations in the RNA-binding protein (RBP) FUS have been genetically associated with the motoneuron disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Using both human induced pluripotent stem cells and mouse models, we found that FUS-ALS causative mutations affect the activity of two relevant RBPs with important roles in neuronal RNA metabolism: HuD/ELAVL4 and FMRP. Mechanistically, mutant FUS leads to upregulation of HuD protein levels through competition with FMRP for HuD mRNA 3’UTR binding. In turn, increased HuD levels overly stabilize the transcript levels of its targets, NRN1 and GAP43. As a consequence, mutant FUS motoneurons show increased axon branching and growth upon injury, which could be rescued by dampening NRN1 levels. Since similar phenotypes have been previously described in SOD1 and TDP-43 mutant models, increased axonal growth and branching might represent broad early events in the pathogenesis of ALS.


2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Merran ◽  
Jeffry L. Corden

ABSTRACT Termination of Saccharomyces cerevisiae RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcripts occurs through two alternative pathways. Termination of mRNAs is coupled to cleavage and polyadenylation while noncoding transcripts are terminated through the Nrd1-Nab3-Sen1 (NNS) pathway in a process that is linked to RNA degradation by the nuclear exosome. Some mRNA transcripts are also attenuated through premature termination directed by the NNS complex. In this paper we present the results of nuclear depletion of the NNS component Nab3. As expected, many noncoding RNAs fail to terminate properly. In addition, we observe that nitrogen catabolite-repressed genes are upregulated by Nab3 depletion.


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