Structural and functional analysis of SR proteins

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The genes in our cells contain the information to produce proteins, which provide the building blocks for our cells and regulate how the cells of our body function. To make a protein, a gene is first copied to produce messenger RNA, which in turns carries the information to make a protein. Different parts of a messenger RNA can be chopped out before it is used to make a protein, which leads to the production of different proteins from the same starting messenger RNA. This means that although humans have around 25,000 genes they can produce many more proteins than this. The different proteins produced from a messenger RNA can have quite different functions in our cells. In this project we are going to work out the molecular structures of some of the important proteins in the cell, known as SR proteins, that regulate which parts of a messenger RNA are chopped out. SR proteins also help the messenger RNA to move from the nucleus to the cytoplasm of a cell, where the mRNA is used to make protein. With these molecular structures we will be able understand how these proteins recognise the bases of messenger RNA to generate specific chops in it and how they recognise other proteins in the cell which help the messenger RNA to leave the nucleus.