RNA diversity has profound effects on the translation of neuronal nitric oxide synthase

Y Wang, DC Newton, GB Robb, CL Kau… - Proceedings of the …, 1999 - pnas.org
Y Wang, DC Newton, GB Robb, CL Kau, TL Miller, AH Cheung, AV Hall, S VanDamme…
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1999pnas.org
A comprehensive analysis of the structure of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS; EC 1.14.
13.39) mRNA species revealed NOS1 to be the most structurally diverse human gene
described to date in terms of promoter usage. Nine unique exon 1 variants are variously
used for transcript initiation in diverse tissues, and each is expressed from a unique 5′-
flanking region. The dependence on unique genomic regions to control transcription
initiation in a cell-specific fashion burdens the transcripts with complex 5′-mRNA leader …
A comprehensive analysis of the structure of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS; EC 1.14.13.39) mRNA species revealed NOS1 to be the most structurally diverse human gene described to date in terms of promoter usage. Nine unique exon 1 variants are variously used for transcript initiation in diverse tissues, and each is expressed from a unique 5′-flanking region. The dependence on unique genomic regions to control transcription initiation in a cell-specific fashion burdens the transcripts with complex 5′-mRNA leader sequences. Elaborate splicing patterns that involve alternatively spliced leader exons and exon skipping have been superimposed on this diversity. Highly structured nNOS mRNA 5′-untranslated regions, which have profound effects on translation both in vitro and in cells, contain cis RNA elements that modulate translational efficiency in response to changes in cellular phenotype.
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