A Novel Discovery of the Function of RNA Structures in Cells
Prof. Huating Wang’s research team at the Department of ORT in CUHK and collaborators from CUHK(Shenzhen) and the City University of Hong Kong have recently published exciting research in Nature Communications studying the role of RNA binding protein DHX36 in modulating RNA secondary structures and gene expression.
RNA structures, which can be modulated by RNA binding proteins, play important roles in regulating gene expressions. An RNA binding protein called DEAH-box helicase 36 (DHX36), has been reported to attach to a specific structure in RNA known as the G-quadruplex and help unwind it. However, how DHX36 affects RNA structures across the entire range of RNA molecules in cells is still largely unknown.
In their study, the researchers for the first time unveil that DHX36 binding induces structural remodeling not only at the localized binding sites but also on the entire mRNA transcript, especially in the 3’UTR, which is correlated with post-transcriptional regulation of mRNA abundance. Further analyses and experiments uncover that DHX36 binding sites are enriched for N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification and YTHDF1 binding; and DHX36 induced structural changes may facilitate YTHDF1 binding to m6A sites and lead to RNA degradation.
In summary, their findings highlight how DHX36 changes RNA structure and influences RNA abundance in cells by regulating the interactions of m6A and YTHDF1 which affects RNA degradation.
Dr. Yuwei Zhang is the first author of the paper and a recent graduate from Prof. Wang’s group in CUHK, he now pursues his Postdoctoral Fellow training in the University of Washington in St. Louis, USA. The link of this paper is as follows https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-54000-y.
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