G quartet dependent interactions between MAP1B RNA and the RGG box of the fragile X mental retardation protein

BIOL 124

Lakshmi Menon, menonl@duq.edu and Mihaela Rita Mihailescu. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Avenue, 308 Mellon hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15282
The absence of the fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) causes the Fragile X Mental Retardation Syndrome, the most prevalent cause of inherited mental retardation.FMRP is an RNA-binding protein, which has been proposed to be involved in the translational regulation of specific messenger RNA (mRNA) sequences. FMRP has been shown to bind with high affinity, using its Arginine-Glycine-Glycine (RGG) Box domain, to RNA sequences proposed to form G quadruplex structures. MAP1B RNA, encoding for the Microtubule-Associated Protein 1B (MAP1B), and expressed at high levels in actively extending neurons, is one such mRNA. We have shown that MAP1B RNA forms an intramolecular parallel G quadruplex structure which is bound with high affinity and specificity by the FMRP RGG Box and have performed the thermodynamic analysis of the MAP1B RNA: FMRP RGG Box complex formation. In this study, we use NMR spectroscopy to obtain high-resolution information about the interactions between MAP1B RNA and the FMRP RGG Box.
 

Poster Session
8:00 PM-10:00 PM, Monday, August 20, 2007 BCEC -- Exhibit Hall - B2, Poster

Division of Biological Chemistry

The 234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, August 19-23, 2007