Investigating the role of the U2 and U6 snRNAs in exon ligation during pre-mRNA splicing

细胞的DNA被复制成前信使RNA（pre-mRNA），细胞将其用作蛋白质生产的模板。DNA中包含的所有信息并不是制造蛋白质所必需的，因此，在制造蛋白质之前必须去除不需要的信息。通过类似于从电影中编辑不需要的帧的过程，将不需要的信息从前mRNA中删除或“拼接”。前mRNA的这种“剪接”非常重要，因为它必须准确地发生，以便产生功能蛋白。即使是一个核苷酸的错误也可能对最终产生的蛋白质产生灾难性的影响。“剪接”的过程是由一个称为剪接体的大RNA/蛋白质复合物进行的。剪接体与前体mRNA相互作用以识别并“剪接”出不需要的区域。越来越多的证据表明，剪接体的RNA组分对于剪接的实际切割过程至关重要。在这项研究经费的任期内将开展的工作将解决剪接体的RNA组分如何相互作用以及前mRNA如何识别然后“剪接”出不需要的区域。这是一项基础研究，将有助于我们了解一个关键的细胞过程。

The DNA of a cell is copied into a pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) that the cell uses as a template for protein production. All the information contained in DNA is not required for making proteins, therefore, unwanted information must be removed before a protein is made. The unwanted information is removed, or 'spliced', from pre-mRNA by a process similar to the editing of unwanted frames from a film. This 'splicing' of the pre-mRNA is very important because it must occur accurately in order for functional proteins to be produced. A mistake by even one nucleotide could have disastrous effects on the final protein produced. The process of 'splicing' is carried out by a large RNA/protein complex called the spliceosome. The spliceosome interacts with the pre-mRNA to identify and 'splice' out the unwanted regions. An increasing amount of evidence points to the RNA components of the spliceosome as being critical for the actual cutting process of splicing. The work that will be undertaken during the tenure of this research grant will address how the RNA components of the spliceosome interact with each other and the pre-mRNA to identify then 'splice' out the unwanted regions. This is basic research that will contribute to our knowledge of a critical cellular process.