New Resource Catalogs RNA-Binding Sites of Many Proteins
A new online database lists the likely RNA-binding sites of more than 8,000 proteins from 289 species, ranging from mosses to monkeys. Researchers debuted the resource in the 11 July issue ofNature.
At least a thousand human proteins are thought to link up with RNA, the molecule that carries instructions to help turn DNA into protein. These so-called RNA-binding proteins, or RBPs, are powerful: They can stabilize, change or destroy RNA, controlling the way genes are expressed in a cell.
Some RBPs have been linked to autism. For example, the protein missing in fragile X syndrome, FMRP, binds to the RNA of some 900 genes and represses their expression. And some people with autism carry genetic glitches in an RBP called RBFOX12.
Despite their biological importance, few RBPs have been studied in depth, however.
“Understanding how gene regulation works is probably one of the major challenges for doing anything useful with the human genome,” says Tim Hughes, professor of molecular genetics at the University of Toronto and lead investigator of the new study. “But we don’t understand how most of it works.”
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