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Preliminary in vitro functional analysis of the DEAD‐box protein DDX3
Author(s) -
Floor Stephen N,
Smith Alison,
Zhou Kaihong,
Doudna Jennifer A
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.947.2
Subject(s) - rna splicing , microbiology and biotechnology , messenger rna , transcription (linguistics) , biology , rna , dead box , protein biosynthesis , ribosome , computational biology , gene , biochemistry , linguistics , philosophy , helicase
DEAD‐box proteins are integral to RNA processing in cells, including the transcription, splicing, export, and translation of messenger RNA, assembly of ribosomes, and chaperoning of RNA folding. The DEAD‐box protein DDX3 (yeast Ded1) is implicated in facilitating transcription, splicing, nuclear export, and translational control, and is additionally thought to potentiate interferon production resulting from cytoplasmic pattern recognition receptor signaling. DDX3 is also hijacked by pathogens including HIV and HCV, transforms breast cells in culture, and is dysregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma. However, little is known regarding the precise mechanism of DDX3 in any of these processes. The aim of this work is to illuminate DDX3 function and regulation using structural and biochemical methods. We present preliminary in vitro reconstitution experiments determining the association of DDX3 with protein cofactors and their functional implications. This work builds a foundation to examine the function of DDX3.