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Molecular and Cellular Biology, December 1998, p. 6897-6909, Vol. 18, No. 12
Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry,
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Yale University, New Haven,
Connecticut
Received 10 July 1998/Accepted 18 August 1998
We have identified gas5 (growth arrest-specific
transcript 5) as a non-protein-coding multiple small nucleolar RNA
(snoRNA) host gene similar to UHG (U22 host gene). Encoded
within the 11 introns of the mouse gas5 gene are nine (10 in human) box C/D snoRNAs predicted to function in the 2'-O-methylation
of rRNA. The only regions of conservation between mouse and human
gas5 genes are their snoRNAs and 5'-end sequences. Mapping
the 5' end of the mouse gas5 transcript demonstrates that
it possesses an oligopyrimidine tract characteristic of the 5'-terminal
oligopyrimidine (5'TOP) class of genes. Arrest of cell growth or
inhibition of translation by cycloheximide, pactamycin, or
rapamycin
0270-7306/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Classification of gas5 as a Multi-Small-Nucleolar-RNA
(snoRNA) Host Gene and a Member of the 5'-Terminal
Oligopyrimidine Gene Family Reveals Common Features of snoRNA
Host Genes
and
which specifically inhibits the translation of 5'TOP
mRNAs
results in accumulation of the gas5 spliced RNA.
Classification of gas5 as a 5'TOP gene provides an
explanation for why it is a growth arrest specific transcript: while
the spliced gas5 RNA is normally associated with ribosomes
and rapidly degraded, during arrested cell growth it accumulates in
mRNP particles, as has been reported for other 5'TOP messages.
Strikingly, inspection of the 5'-end sequences of currently known
snoRNA host gene transcripts reveals that they all exhibit features of
the 5'TOP gene family.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Yale University, 295 Congress Ave., New Haven, CT 06536. Phone: (203)
737-4417. Fax: (203) 624-8213. E-mail: joan.steitz{at}yale.edu.
Present address: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Wash.
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