Molecular and cellular biology of the multifunctional protein P54NRB/NONO

在过去的十年里，随着基因组学的出现，出现了两个重大的惊喜。首先，人类蛋白质编码基因的总数与果蝇或其他动物没有明显差异。其次，被认为在基因和蛋白质之间起中介作用的RNA分子，实际上比预期的要丰富得多。这些RNA种类中的许多不是转录“噪音”，如先前所认为的，而是发挥多样化和重要的细胞功能，与细胞管家或调节有关。对新的“RNA世界”知之甚少，但大多数时候，这些分子与我们细胞中的蛋白质结合。我们有独特的机会深入分析P54 NRB，这是一种参与RNA分子生产和加工的主要蛋白质。这种蛋白质在细胞核中起作用，这是RNA工厂的核心。我们自己和其他研究小组的结果表明，P54 NRB与不同类型的RNA分子结合，并且这些相互作用在细胞周期中有所不同。我们希望了解如何和为什么。我们将继续进行P54 NRB的分子解剖。换句话说，我们将分析这种蛋白质的每个片段对各种RNA相互作用的贡献，并试图了解细胞如何调节这个网络。我们的工作将有助于更好地理解基本的细胞过程，如细胞分裂，基因表达和蛋白质-RNA相互作用。

In the last decade, two major surprises arose with the emergence of genomics. First, the overall number of protein-coding genes in humans is not markedly different from that of the fruit fly or other animals. Second, the RNA molecules, thought to play an intermediary role between the genes and the proteins, are in fact much more abundant than anticipated. Many of these RNA species are not transcriptional "noise", as previously thought, but play diversified and important cellular functions, either related to cell housekeeping or regulation. Little is known on the new "RNA world" but most of the time, these molecules are bound to proteins in our cells. We have the unique opportunity to analyze in depth P54NRB, a major protein involved in the production and processing of RNA molecules. This protein works in the cell nucleus, that is in the very heart of the RNA factory. Our own results and that of other groups showed that P54NRB binds to different types of RNA molecules and that these interactions vary during the cell cycle. We wish to understand how and why. We will proceed to the molecular dissection of P54NRB. In other words, we will analyze the contribution of every segment of this protein to the various RNA interactions and try to understand how the cell regulates this network. Our work will contribute to a better understanding of basic cellular processes such as cell division, gene expression and protein-RNA interactions.