Identification of the role of A-to-I editing in SINE RNA stability
Date
2022
Authors
Turner, Cody R.
University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Abstract
SINE RNAs are non-coding RNAs produced by Short Interspersed Nuclear Elements
(SINEs), with SINEs of the B2 and Alu family being among the most frequent in mice and humans,
respectively. Previous studies have shown that the processing of B2 SINE RNAs results in changes
to the cellular stress response in mice through changes in the activation of stress response genes
that are targeted by B2 RNAs. Thus, SINE RNA stability plays an important role in the regulation
of gene expression. However, the factors that affect this processing are unclear. In this thesis, I
investigated whether adenosine to inosine RNA modifications affects the stability of the B2 SINE
RNA. To this end, optimization of solid phase RNA synthesis protocols for long RNAs that can
incorporate the addition of inosines into the RNA sequence to generate in vitro synthesized B2
SINE RNA fragments with specific adenosine to inosine edits. In combination with ligation,
complete in vitro synthesized B2 SINE RNAs were edited at specific positions and their processing
rates could be compared to control synthesized B2 SINE RNA. Subsequently, expanded research
into a cell culture model of neural cells and investigated how inhibition of A to I editing affects
B2 RNA stability. The above study shows that A to I editing indeed affects the stability of the B2
SINE RNAs, and provides new insight into the mechanisms that affect overall SINE RNA stability
Description
Keywords
NcRNA , SINE RNA , A to I , A-to-I editing , B2 RNA