New paper by Michlewski lab in Nature Communications
Dr Gracjan Michlewski, Principal Investigator at Infection Medicine, published a new paper in Nature Communications.
Dr Gracjan Michlewski has published a paper in Nature Communications - "Loss of 5-methylcytosine alters the biogenesis of Vault-derived small RNAs to coordinate epidermal differentiation".
Summary of findings:
The presence and absence of RNA modifications regulates RNA metabolism which contributes to cellular and organismal development and function. Working in collaboration with Professor Michaela Frye (University of Cambridge and German Cancer Research Centre), we decipher the consequences of 5-methylcytosine (m5C) deposition by NOP2/Sun RNA Methyltransferase 2 (NSUN2) into the abundant non-coding vault RNA VTRNA1.1. We identify the serine/arginine rich splicing factor 2 (SRSF2) as a novel VTRNA1.1-binding protein. Finally, we demonstrate a functional relationship between SRSF2, m5C and VTRNA1.1 processing into small vault RNA (svRNA) in regulating the epidermal differentiation programme.
Significance:
This study is important as m5C modification in RNA is very common. However, it is largely unknown what are the functional consequences in terms of molecular mechanisms as well as cellular and organismal functions of this RNA modification.