Post Transcriptional Control Of Gene Expression

This volume aims to provide the most recent advances in techniques for studying gene expression regulation at the post-transcriptional level. Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation, Second Edition is organized in six sections describing bioinformatics approaches for studying post-transcriptional regulation, various expression profiling approaches, protein-RNA interaction and non-coding RNA investigation techniques, methods for profiling RNA modifications, and other techniques such as alternative translation initiation or polyadenylation sites determination. Written for the Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation, Second Edition is a versatile resource to researchers studying post-transcriptional regulation, introducing the most recent techniques and providing a comprehensive guide to their implementation.

The last ten years have witnessed a remarkable increase in our awareness of the importance of events subsequent to transcriptional initiation in terms of the regulation and control of gene expression. In particular, the development of recombinant DNA techniques that began in the 1970s provided powerful new tools with which to study the molecular basis of control and regulation at all levels. The resulting investigations revealed a diversity of post-transcriptional mechanisms in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Scientists working on translation, mRNA stability, transcriptional (anti)termination or other aspects of gene expression will often have met at specialist meetings for their own research area. However, only rarely do workers in different areas of post-transcriptional control/ regulation have the opportunity to meet under one roof. We therefore thought it was time to bring together leading representatives of most of the relevant areas in a small workshop intended to encourage interaction across the usual borders of research, both in terms of the processes studied, and with respect to the evolutionary division prokaryotes/eukaryotes. Given the breadth of topics covered and the restrictions in size imposed by the NATO workshop format, it was an extraordinarily difficult task to choose the participants. However, we regarded this first attempt as an experiment on a small scale, intended to explore the possibilities of a meeting of this kind. Judging by the response of the participants during and after the workshop, the effort had been worthwhile.

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Recent years have seen spectacular advances in the field of circadian biology. These have attracted the interest of researchers in many fields, including endocrinology, neurosciences, cancer, and behavior. By integrating a circadian view within the fields of endocrinology and metabolism, researchers will be able to reveal many, yet-unsuspected aspects of how organisms cope with changes in the environment and subsequent control of homeostasis. This field is opening new avenues in our understanding of metabolism and endocrinology. A panel of the most distinguished investigators in the field gathered together to discuss the present state and the future of the field. The editors trust that this volume will be of use to those colleagues who will be picking up the challenge to unravel how the circadian clock can be targeted for the future development of specific pharmacological strategies toward a number of pathologies.

A recent volume of this series (Signals and Signal Transduction Pathways in Plants (K. Palme, ed.) Plant Molecular Biology 26, 1237-1679) described the relay races by which signals are transported in plants from the sites of stimuli to the gene expression machinery of the cell. Part of this machinery, the transcription apparatus, has been well studied in the last two decades, and many important mechanisms controlling gene expression at the transcriptional level have been elucidated. However, control of gene expression is by no means complete once the RNA has been produced. Important regulatory devices determine the maturation and usage of mRNA and the fate of its translation product. Post-transcriptional regulation is especially important for generating a fast response to environmental and intracellular signals. This book summarizes recent progress in the area of post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in plants. 18 chapters of the book address problems of RNA processing and stability, regulation of translation, protein folding and degradation, as well as intracellular and cell-to-cell transport of proteins and nucleic acids. Several chapters are devoted to the processes taking place in plant organelles.

2.4 Regulation of Transcription by Termination2.4.1 Transcription Attenuation, Promoter Upstream/Associated Transcription, and Pausing of RNApII; 2.4.2 Alternative Polyadenylation and Termination; 2.5 Mechanisms of Termination by Other RNA Polymerases; 2.6 Future Perspectives; Acknowledgments; References; 3: Posttranscriptional Gene Regulation by an Editor: ADAR and its Role in RNA Editing; 3.1 Introduction; 3.2 The RNA Editing Kinship; 3.3 The ADAR Gene Family; 3.4 The Role of RNA in the A-to-I Editing Mechanism; 3.5 Splice Site Alterations.