| FBB5 | |
| Project ID |  FBB5 [Protein] |
| Project Theme | Elucidation of the mechanism of high-order cellular functions achieved by non-coding RNAs |
| Project Theme (short) | Non-coding RNA-protein complexes |
| Principal Investigator | Osamu Nureki |
| Affiliation | Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo |
| Backgrounds | - Among RNA molecules, there are functional RNAs called non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) that are not translated into proteins - Most of the newly identified ncRNAs have not been validated for their functions - Elucidation of ncRNAs functions could contribute to the understanding of fundamental biology as well as biomedical applications |
| Highlights | - We have succeeded in the structure determination of a variety of tRNA-enzyme complexes, revealing the molecular mechanisms of tRNA modifications - A number of ncRNAs that interact with Argonaute proteins have been identified to assign their functions |
| Outline | In cells, mRNA is transcribed from a DNA template and carries coding information to the sites of protein synthesis where the information is translated into a protein. There are functional RNA molecules called non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) that are not translated into proteins. While transfer RNA (tRNA) and ribosomal RNA (rRNA) associated with the protein synthesis are well-known ncRNAs, most of the newly identified ncRNAs have not been validated for their functions. ncRNAs are found to regulate the expressions of many thousands of genes and to exhibit their activities in complex with proteins. We are planning to analyze the structures of tRNA-tRNA modification enzyme complexes to elucidate tRNA modification processes. Furthermore, we will study on ncRNA-protein complexes to elucidate the functions of ncRNAs. Our primary target proteins are Argonaute proteins involved in the gene silencing phenomenon known as RNA interference (RNAi). |
| Review | Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. |
| CSML File | FBB5.csml |