Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Spliceosomal Prp24 Unwinds A Minimal U2/U6 Complex From Yeast, Chandani Manoja Warnasooriya

Wayne State University Theses

Splicing plays a major role in eukaryotic gene expression by processing pre-mRNA to form mature mRNA. Pre-mRNAs undergo splicing to remove introns, non–protein coding regions, and religate exons, protein coding regions. This process is catalyzed by the spliceosome, which consists of five small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles (snRNPs: U1, U2, U4, U5 and U6) and numerous protein factors. Proper assembly of spliceosomal components is critical for function, and thus, defects in assembly can be lethal. Several spliceosomal proteins facilitate structural rearrangements important for spliceosomal assembly and function. Prp24 is an essential factor in U6 snRNP assembly, and it has been proposed …

Study Of Protein-Rna Interactions Using Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (Fret) And Single-Molecule Fret, Rajan Lamichhane

Wayne State University Dissertations

In the cell, RNA and protein, interact to form ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs) that have vital structural, catalytic and regulatory roles. Despite their functional importance, the mechanistic details and dynamics of RNPs are poorly understood. Single-molecule Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (smFRET) techniques that provide information about heterogeneity and dynamic behaviors of molecules have been developed to investigate inter- and intra-molecular interactions. Here we have used FRET in combination with smFRET to study three very different RNP systems.

Alternative splicing is a highly regulated biological process that plays a crucial role in proteomic diversity in eukaryotes. One splicing regulator, PTB, has been …