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Full-Text Articles in Molecular Biology

Gq Noncanonical Roles In Translational Regulation, Brett Demarco Aug 2018

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 …


Cooperative Regulation Of Translational Repression By Fmrp And The Mirna Pathway, Navneeta Kaul Aug 2018

Cooperative Regulation Of Translational Repression By Fmrp And The Mirna Pathway, Navneeta Kaul

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common inherited monogenic cause of intellectual disability. FXS patients exhibit social and language deficits, hyperactivity, seizures, growth abnormalities, macroorchidism, anxiety, and epilepsy. FXS is caused by the transcriptional silencing of the fragile X mental retardation gene 1 (Fmr1), resulting in the loss of the fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP). FMRP is a selective mRNA binding protein that plays a role in translation repression. Studies suggest that FMRP utilizes the miRNA pathway to repress translation of its target mRNAs through an unknown mechanism. The aim of my thesis is to investigate …


Computational Analysis Of Genomic Variants Affecting Predicted Microrna:Target Interactions In Prostate Cancer., Angélica Paola Hernández Pérez Jul 2018

Computational Analysis Of Genomic Variants Affecting Predicted Microrna:Target Interactions In Prostate Cancer., Angélica Paola Hernández Pérez

KGI Theses and Dissertations

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common cancer of men in the United States and is third only to lung and colon as a cause of cancer death. Clinical behavior of the disease is variable and the combination of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening and Gleason score staging are currently the best available molecular and pathology tools to predict outcomes. Cancer biology research establishes microRNAs (miRNAs) as key molecular components in both normal and pathological states. Thus, elucidating miRNAs perturbed by genomic alterations will expand our understanding of the molecular taxonomy of PCa with the aim to complement current practices in …