Transcribed-ultraconserved regions regulate cellular senescence and proliferation of conlon cancer.

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26713027
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Gastroenterology
• Research Institution: The University of Tokushima
• Principal Investigator: KUWANO Yuki 徳島大学, 大学院医歯薬学研究部, 助教 (00563454)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 非コードRNA / RNAプロセシング / 大腸がん / 超保存領域

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Ultraconserved regions (UCRs) are >200-bp genomic segments with perfect human-to-rodent sequence identity. Transcribed UCRs constitute a new category of noncoding RNAs whose functions remain poorly understood.
The transformer 2β (TRA2B) exon 2 has premature stop codons, whereas an exon 2-containing splice variant (TRA2β4) was expressed preferentially in the nuclei of human colon cancer cells. TRA2β4 knockdown stimulated CDKN1A transcription and increased p21, resulting in the appearance of senescent cells. TRA2β4 interacted with Sp1 through a Sp1-binding sequence (485-GGGG-488) in a stem-loop structure of exon 2. These results suggest that TRA2β4 may sequester Sp1 from occupying promoters of target genes including CDKN1A, promoting cell growth by interrupting the senescence-related gene expression program.

Free Research Field

分子生物学