Molecular and cellular biology of the multifunctional protein P54NRB/NONO

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

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.