1st Edition

Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay

By Lynne E. Maquat Copyright 2006
    277 Pages 65 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay is the first book devoted to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD). The rationale for such a book is the enormous information that studies of NMD have provided on the intricacies of post-transcriptional gene expression. The first five sections of the book are divided according to organism and begin with chapters on S. cerevisiae and mammals, from which most NMD data derive. Chapters within these sections discuss the two basic ways cells differentiate between a termination codon that elicits NMD and one that does not. Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay makes clear that studies of NMD provide a unique opportunity to examine the coupling of mRNA translation and decay, and relationships between mRNP structure and function. The importance of NMD is evident from descriptions of its influence on the expression of genes that are essential for many cellular processes, including cell differentiation, cell maintenance and cell death. This book is, essentially, meant to be a one-stop source of information that fuels the fires of future experimentation.

    Preface Section I: Saccharomyces cerevisiae 1. Features of Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay in Saccharomyces cerevisiae 2. All Termination Events Are Not Equal: Premature Termination in Yeast Is Aberrant and Triggers NMD 3. Endogenous Substrates of the Yeast NMD Pathway 4. NMD in Mammalian Cells: A History 5. Human Upf Proteins in NMD 6. NMD and the Immune System 7. Role of SMG-1-Mediated Phosphorylation of Upfl in NMD Section II: Mammals 8. Physiologie Substrates and Functions for Mammalian NMD 9. NMD and Human Disease 10. Therapies of Nonsense-Associated Diseases Section III: Caenorhabditis elegans 11. NMD in Caenorhabditis elegans Section IV: Drosophila melanogaster 12. NMD in Drosophila: A Snapshot into the Evolution of a Conserved mRNA Surveillance Pathway 13. NMD in Plants 14. Regulation of Gene Expression by Coupling of Alternative Splicing and N M D 15. NMD and the Evolution of Eukaryotic Gene Structure 16. The SMG-1 Kinase: At the Crossroads of mRNA Surveillance and Stress Response Pathways 17. Staufen 1-Mediated mRNA Decay: A Upf1-Dependent Pathway Section V: Plants 18. Upfl Regulates Mammalian Histone mRNA Decay 19. S. cerevistae Esti///, sapiens SMG6 Protein Family Members Function in Telomere Metabolism 20. Nonsense-Associated Altered Splicing.

    Biography

    Lynne E. Maquat Ph.D, is Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, New York. She has studied nonsense-mediated mRNA decay since 1980, beginning with characterizations of patients having the hemolytic anemias ß°-thalassemia and triosephosphate isomerase deficiency. She is currently President of the RNA Society and member of the Public Information Committee of the American Society for Cell Biology.