New carbamate supports for the preparation of 3'-amino-modified oligonucleotides

A novel approach for the preparation of oligonucleotides carrying amino groups at the 3'-end is described. Several CPG supports having aminoalkyl groups and 3'-amino-2',3'-dideoxynucleosides linked through base-labile carbamate linkages such as 2-(2- nitrophenyl)ethoxycarbonyl and fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl were prepared using two different strategies. These supports are compatible to the standard solid phase phosphite-triester methodology and yield oligonucleotides containing amino groups at the 3'-end. Several properties of the 3'-amino oligonucleotides, such as nuclease resistance, hybridization, and preparation of oligonucleotide conjugates are discussed.Financial support from CICYT (PB92-0043) and E.E.C.C. Biomedicine and Health Programme (BMH1-CT93-1669) is gratefully acknowledged. We thank Drs P. Herdewijn, A. van Aerschot, T. Saison- Behmoaras, and W. Pfleiderer for their helpful suggestions. We are grateful to Marten Wiersma for his technical assistance.Peer reviewe

Mass spectrometry and EST-database searching allows characterization of the multi-protein spliceosome complex

Many important cell mechanisms are carried out and regulated by multi-protein complexes, for example, transcription and RNA processing machinery, receptor complexes and cytoskeletal structures. Most of these complexes remain only partially characterized due to the difficulty of conventional protein analysis methods. The rapid expansion of DNA sequence databases now provides whole or partial gene sequences of model organisms, and recent advances in protein microcharacterization via mass spectrometry allow the possibility of linking these DNA sequences to the proteins in functional complexes. This approach has been demonstrated in organisms whose genomes have been sequenced, such as budding yeast. Here we report the first characterization of an entire mammalian multi-protein complex using these methods. The machinery that removes introns from mRNA precursors — the spliceosome — is a large multi-protein complex. Approximately half of the components excised from a two-dimensional gel separation of the spliceosome were found in protein sequence databases. Using nanoelectrospray mass spectrometry, the remainder were identified and cloned using public expressed sequence tag (EST) databases. Existing EST databases are thus already sufficiently complete to allow rapid characterization of large mammalian protein complexes via mass spectrometry

c-Src-Mediated Phosphorylation of hnRNP K Drives Translational Activation of Specifically Silenced mRNAs

hnRNPK and hnRNP E1/E2 mediate translational silencing of cellular and viral mRNAs in a differentiation-dependent way by binding to specific regulatory sequences. The translation of 15-lipoxygenase (LOX) mRNA in erythroid precursor cells and of the L2 mRNA of human papilloma virus type 16 (HPV-16) in squamous epithelial cells is silenced when either of these cells is immature and is activated in maturing cells by unknown mechanisms. Here we address the question of how the silenced mRNA can be translationally activated. We show that hnRNP K and the c-Src kinase specifically interact with each other, leading to c-Src activation and tyrosine phosphorylation of hnRNP K in vivo and in vitro. c-Src-mediated phosphorylation reversibly inhibits the binding of hnRNP K to the differentiation control element (DICE) of the LOX mRNA 3′ untranslated region in vitro and specifically derepresses the translation of DICE-bearing mRNAs in vivo. Our results establish a novel role of c-Src kinase in translational gene regulation and reveal a mechanism by which silenced mRNAs can be translationally activated

A novel U2 and U11/U12 snRNP protein that associates with the pre-mRNA branch site

Previous UV cross-linking studies demonstrated that, upon integration of the U2 snRNP into the spliceosome, a 14 kDa protein (p14) interacts directly with the branch adenosine, the nucleophile for the first transesterification step of splicing. We have identified the cDNA encoding this protein by microsequencing a 14 kDa protein isolated from U2-type spliceosomes. This protein contains an RNA recognition motif and is highly conserved across species. Antibodies raised against this cDNA-encoded protein precipitated the 14 kDa protein cross-linked to the branch adenosine, confirming the identity of the p14 cDNA. A combination of immunoblotting, protein microsequencing and immunoprecipitation revealed that p14 is a component of both 17S U2 and 18S U11/U12 snRNPs, suggesting that it contributes to the interaction of these snRNPs with the branch sites of U2- and U12-type pre-mRNAs, respectively. p14 was also shown to be a subunit of the heteromeric splicing factor SF3b and to interact directly with SF3b155. Immuno precipitations indicated that p14 is present in U12-type spliceosomes, consistent with the idea that branch point selection is similar in the major and minor spliceosomes