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Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Production of Xenopus tropicalis Egg Extracts to Identify Microtubule-associated RNAs
Published on: June 27, 2013
RNA-binding protein conserved in both microtubule- and microfilament-based RNA localization
1Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Hebrew University Medical School, Jerusalem 91120, Israel.
Abstract:
Vg1 mRNA translocation to the vegetal cortex of Xenopus oocytes requires intact microtubules, and a 3' UTR cis-acting element (termed VLE), which also mediates sequence-specific binding of several proteins. One protein, the 69-kD Vg1 RBP, associates Vg1 RNA to microtubules in vitro. Here we show that Vg1 RBP-binding sites correlate with vegetal localization. Purification and cloning of Vg1 RBP revealed five RNA-binding motifs: four KH and one RRM domains. Surprisingly, Vg1 RBP is highly homologous to the zipcode binding protein implicated in the microfilament-mediated localization of beta actin mRNA in fibroblasts. These data support Vg1 RBP's direct role in vegetal localization and suggest the existence of a general, evolutionarily conserved mechanism for mRNA targeting.
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