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In mammalian cells, significantly more RNA is turned over in the nucleus than in the cytoplasm. However, only recently have we begun to understand the mechanisms and regulation of nuclear RNA decay.
Recent advances have led to a new understanding of how mRNAs are exported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. This process requires a heterodimeric mRNA export receptor that is part of an elaborate machinery conserved from yeast to humans. Export of mRNAs is coupled to upstream steps in gene expression, such as pre-mRNA splicing, and to downstream events, including nonsense-mediated decay.
The nuclear receptor (NR) superfamily of transcription factors regulates gene expression in response to endocrine signaling, and recruitment of coregulators affords these receptors considerable functional flexibility. We will place historical aspects of NR research in context with current opinions on their mechanism of signal transduction, and we will speculate upon future trends in the field.
Protein synthesis is the ultimate step of gene expression and a key control point for regulation. In particular, it enables cells to rapidly manipulate protein production without new mRNA synthesis, processing, or export. Recent studies have enhanced our understanding of the translation initiation process and helped elucidate how modifications of the general translational machinery regulate gene-specific...
Recent results from diverse organisms point to a self-reinforcing network of interactions among the three best-characterized covalent modifications that mark heterochromatin: histone hypoacetylation, histone H3-Lys9 methylation, and cytosine methylation. These modification systems suggest a mechanistic basis for spreading of heterochromatin over large domains and for stable epigenetic inheritance...
Localization of RNA is a widespread and efficient way to target gene products to a specific region of a cell or embryo. This strategy of posttranscriptional gene regulation utilizes a variety of distinct mechanisms to regulate the movement and anchoring of different transcripts.
Chromatin structure creates barriers for each step in eukaryotic transcription. Here we discuss how the activities of two major classes of chromatin-modifying complexes, ATP-dependent remodeling complexes and HAT or HDAC complexes, might be coordinated to create a DNA template that is accessible to the general transcription apparatus.
The messenger RNA processing reactions of capping, splicing, and polyadenylation occur cotranscriptionally. They not only influence one another's efficiency and specificity, but are also coordinated by transcription. The phosphorylated CTD of RNA polymerase II provides key molecular contacts with these mRNA processing reactions throughout transcriptional elongation and termination.
Recent developments in live-cell imaging are challenging our stereotyped view of the fixed cell nucleus. The emerging picture is that nuclear processes may rely on a constant flow of molecules between dynamic compartments created by relatively immobile binding or assembly sites. This article discusses current views on the origins of nuclear compartments and their roles in gene expression.
Essential components of the eukaryotic transcription apparatus include RNA polymerase II, a common set of initiation factors, and a Mediator complex that transmits regulatory information to the enzyme. Insights into mechanisms of transcription have been gained by three-dimensional structures for many of these factors and their complexes, especially for yeast RNA polymerase II at atomic resolution.
Experiment and simulation are now conspiring to give atomic-level descriptions of protein folding relevant to folding, misfolding, trafficking, and degradation in the cell. We are on the threshold of predicting those protein folding events using simulation that has been carefully benchmarked by experiment.
The human genome has been called ''the blueprint for life.'' This master plan is realized through the process of gene expression. Recent progress has revealed that many of the steps in the pathway from gene sequence to active protein are connected, suggesting a unified theory of gene expression.
The publication of crystal structures of the 50S and 30S ribosomal subunits and the intact 70S ribosome is revolutionizing our understanding of protein synthesis. This review is an attempt to correlate the structures with biochemical and genetic data to identify the gaps and limits in our current knowledge of the mechanisms involved in translation.
The assembly and disassembly of ribonucleoprotein complexes containing substrate precursor mRNAs and guide RNAs is crucial to the initiation and propagation of RNA editing. We discuss here the composition of these complexes and how their assembly may regulate RNA editing.
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