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Molecular and Cellular Biology, April 2006, p. 2540-2549, Vol. 26, No. 7
0270-7306/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/MCB.26.7.2540-2549.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire Eucaryote du CNRS, UMR5099, IFR109, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France,1 Biological Research Center, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged, Hungary2
Received 15 September 2005/ Returned for modification 21 October 2005/ Accepted 13 January 2006
Processing from pre-mRNA introns is a widespread mechanism to generate human box C/D and H/ACA snoRNAs. Recent studies revealed that an optimal position relative to the 3' splice site is important for efficient processing of most box C/D snoRNAs and that assembly of box C/D snoRNPs is stimulated by splicing factors likely bound to the branch point region. Here we have investigated the processing of another major class of human intron-encoded RNAs, the box H/ACA snoRNAs. Analysis of 80 H/ACA RNA genes revealed that human H/ACA RNAs possess no preferential localization close to the 3' or 5' splice site. In vivo processing experiments confirmed that H/ACA intronic snoRNAs are processed in a position-independent manner, indicating that there is no synergy between H/ACA RNA processing and splicing. We also showed that recognition of intronic H/ACA snoRNAs and assembly of pre-snoRNPs is an early event that occurs during transcription elongation parallel with pre-mRNA splice site selection. Finally, we found that efficient processing and correct nucleolar localization of the human U64 H/ACA snoRNA requires RNA polymerase II-mediated synthesis of the U64 precursor. This suggests that polymerase II-associated factors direct the efficient assembly and determine the correct subnuclear trafficking of human H/ACA snoRNPs.
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