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Branched RNA
Author(s) -
Edmonds Mary
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.950060505
Subject(s) - intron , spliceosome , rna splicing , rna , precursor mrna , exon , rna editing , biology , small nuclear rna , messenger rna , mature messenger rna , oligonucleotide , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , chemistry , non coding rna , gene
The only RNA molecules known to be branched are circular structures with tails known as lariats that arise during nuclear pre‐mRNA splicing. Lariats accumulate within a large multicomponent particle called a spliceosome that forms upon the addition of unspliced mRNA to nuclear extracts. Recently an RNA molecule has been observed to catalyze branch formation. In this case a single intron of a yeast mitochondrial pre‐mRNA participates in a self‐splicing reaction that results in the accumulation of branched lariats that are processed to correctly spliced exons. An enzyme highly specific for branch removal found in the same extracts that form branches during pre‐mRNA splicing can debranch RNA lariats to their linear forms without loss of nucleotides. The chemical synthesis of branched RNA has recently been achieved. High yields of sequence‐specific oligonucleotides are now available for the analysis of RNA splicing by techniques dependent on branch‐site recognition.