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Updated: Apr 30, 2026

RNA Catalyst as a Reporter for Screening Drugs against RNA Editing in Trypanosomes
Published on: July 22, 2014
A short RNA stem-loop is necessary and sufficient for repression of gene expression during early logarithmic phase in
Sandra M Fernández-Moya1, Mark Carrington2, Antonio M Estévez3
1Instituto de Parasitología y Biomedicina 'López-Neyra', IPBLN-CSIC, Parque Tecnológico de Ciencias de la Salud, Avda. del Conocimiento, s/n, 18016 Armilla, Granada, Spain.
Abstract:
We have compared the transcriptomes of cultured procyclic Trypanosoma brucei cells in early and late logarithmic phases and found that ∼200 mRNAs were differentially regulated. In late log phase cells, the most upregulated mRNA encoded the nucleobase transporter NT8. The 3' untranslated region (UTR) of NT8 contains a short stem-loop cis-element that is necessary for the regulation of NT8 expression in response to external purine levels. When placed in the 3'-UTR of an unregulated transcript, the cis-element is sufficient to confer regulation in response to purines. To our knowledge, this is the first example of a discrete RNA element that can autonomously regulate gene expression in trypanosomes in response to an external factor and reveals an unprecedented purine-dependent signaling pathway that controls gene expression in eukaryotes.
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