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Full-Text Articles in Molecular Biology
Rna Structure And Function: Biological Relevance In Neurodegenerative And Infectious Disease Pathogenesis, Joshua Imperatore
Rna Structure And Function: Biological Relevance In Neurodegenerative And Infectious Disease Pathogenesis, Joshua Imperatore
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The studies outlined in this dissertation encompass a broad focus, relating to the pathogenesis of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, fragile X syndrome, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, as well as a novel infectious disease, COVID-19. However, all four studies detailed within this dissertation contain similar elements, namely, the coordinated role of RNA structure and function in essential molecular mechanisms. The results of these investigations allow us to speculate on various disease- related mechanisms, including dysregulated microRNA processing pathways, nucleocytoplasmic shuttling via distinct RNA-protein interactions, and fine-tuned molecular switches controlling genomic dimerization and viral hijacking of host cellular microRNAs. Taken …
Gq Noncanonical Roles In Translational Regulation, Brett Demarco
Gq Noncanonical Roles In Translational Regulation, Brett Demarco
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This study investigates protein nucleic acid interactions, focusing on G-quadruplex (GQ) forming DNA/RNA in human disease. GQ structures are formed in DNA/RNA, when four guanine residues form planar tetrads stabilized by Hoogsteen base pairing, that stack forming a GQ structure stabilized by potassium ions. These GQ structures are targeted by the arginine glycine-glycine (RGG) RNA-binding domain. Fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP), a translation regulator protein implicated in the fragile X syndrome, has an RGG domain and has been previously shown to interact with neuronal GQ forming messenger RNA (mRNA). We have investigated three neuronal FMRP mRNA targets that we …