JCB logo
Keystone Symposia 2009 Meetings
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
Published 13 February 2006. doi:10.1083/jcb.200510044
The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525 $8.00
JCB, Volume 172, Number 4, 577-588
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF, 3819K)
Right arrow PPT slides of all figures
Right arrow Supplemental Material Index
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JCB
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Munro, T. P.
Right arrow Articles by St Johnston, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Munro, T. P.
Right arrow Articles by St Johnston, D.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

Article

 A repeated IMP-binding motif controls oskar mRNA translation and anchoring independently of Drosophila melanogaster IMP

Trent P. Munro1, Sunjong Kwon2, Bruce J. Schnapp2, and Daniel St Johnston1

1 The Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QR, England, UK
2 Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239

Correspondence to Bruce J. Schnapp: schnappb{at}ohsu.edu

Zip code–binding protein 1 (ZBP-1) and its Xenopus laevis homologue, Vg1 RNA and endoplasmic reticulum–associated protein (VERA)/Vg1 RNA-binding protein (RBP), bind repeated motifs in the 3' untranslated regions (UTRs) of localized mRNAs. Although these motifs are required for RNA localization, the necessity of ZBP-1/VERA remains unresolved. We address the role of ZBP-1/VERA through analysis of the Drosophila melanogaster homologue insulin growth factor II mRNA–binding protein (IMP). Using systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment, we identified the IMP-binding element (IBE) UUUAY, a motif that occurs 13 times in the oskar 3'UTR. IMP colocalizes with oskar mRNA at the oocyte posterior, and this depends on the IBEs. Furthermore, mutation of all, or subsets of, the IBEs prevents oskar mRNA translation and anchoring at the posterior. However, oocytes lacking IMP localize and translate oskar mRNA normally, illustrating that one cannot necessarily infer the function of an RBP from mutations in its binding sites. Thus, the translational activation of oskar mRNA must depend on the binding of another factor to the IBEs, and IMP may serve a different purpose, such as masking IBEs in RNAs where they occur by chance. Our findings establish a parallel requirement for IBEs in the regulation of localized maternal mRNAs in D. melanogaster and X. laevis.

Abbreviations used in this paper: IBE, IMP-binding element; IMP, insulin-like growth factor II mRNA–binding protein; LE, localization element; RBP, RNA-binding protein; SELEX, systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment; UTR, untranslated region; VERA, Vg1 RNA and endoplasmic reticulum–associated protein; WT, wild-type; ZBP-1, zip code–binding protein 1.

T.P. Munro and S. Kwon contributed equally to this paper.

B.J. Schnapp and D. St Johnston contributed equally to this paper.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:



  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents