RNA

ADAR RNA editing enzymes deaminate selected adenosines to inosines in dsRNA. In Drosophila, inosine in dsRNA inhibits cleavage by Dcr2, and some ADAR proteins contribute an additional, editing-independent inhibition. The Drosophila AdarG isoform, in particular, has been proposed to inhibit HP1-mediated heterochromatin silencing of repetitive sequences initiated ...

RNase L is an endonuclease that responds to infections by cleaving most host- and pathogen-derived single-stranded RNAs. This widespread RNA cleavage can lead to death of the infected cell via the ribotoxic stress response (RSR). An ongoing challenge is to understand how RNase L's endonuclease activity triggers cell death to benefit the host. To address this question, we used...

Yeast Def1 is well known for its role in regulating RNA polymerase II elongation and degrading the large subunit of polymerase during transcriptional stress. It is an abundant cytoplasmic protein that undergoes stress-induced processing and is then transported to the nucleus. Previous research from our laboratory has shown that Def1 interacts with various proteins involved in...

The partners of an ecological association tend to copy the biological system of their hosts. We hypothesized that microorganisms, particularly pathogens, have acquired the ability to express short peptides (pathoPEPs) homologous to host miPEPs, thus modulating the expression of the corresponding host microRNA (miRNA) and the function of miRNA-targeted genes. The pathosystem i...

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are essential modulators in the regulation of mRNA processing. The binding patterns, interactions, and functions of most RBPs are not well-characterized. Previous studies have shown that motif context is an important contributor to RBP binding specificity, but its precise role remains unclear. Despite recent computational advances to predict RBP bi...