Forgotten but not gone — take III

It’s pretty clear that life originated in the RNA world.  Consumed by thinking of proteins, enzymes, DNA etc. we tend to forget that there is a lot of RNA out there doing things we didn’t suspect.  Here are two more examples, one of which may explain why even genes coding  for proteins are relatively free of codons transcribed into amino acids.  The champ of course is dystrophin, discussed in the last post — https://luysii.wordpress.com/2019/05/05/duchenne-muscular-dystrophy-a-novel-genetic-treatment/.  The gene is a monster with  2,220,233 nucleotides coding for just 3,685 amino acids, meaning that less than 1/200th of the gene is actually coding for protein. The work below should make us think about just what else the 199/200th of dystrophin might be doing,

Unsuspected use of RNA #1.   [ Neuron vol. 102 pp. 507 – 509, 553 – 563 ’19 ]  The Tumor protein p53 inducible nuclear protein 2 (Tp53inp2) gene codes for a low complexity protein of 222 amino acids, all in one exon.  However the ‘3 untranslated region (3’UTR)  of the RNA for it is nearly 5 times longer (3,121 nucleotides) vs. 666 amino acid coding nucleotides.  The protein is made from the mRNA in some cells, but not in sympathetic neurons, even though the mRNA for Tp53inp2 is the most abundant RNA in the axons of these neurons.

Why do animals lick their wounds?  Because their saliva contains nerve growth factor (NGF) among other things.  NGF is crucial for the growth of sympathetic neuron axons, and their very survival in embryonic life.  It is a protein, which binds to a receptor for it (TrkA) on the axon membrane.  The receptor/NGF complex is then internalized and transported back to the nucleus turning on the genes necessary for axon growth and cell survival.

Even though the mRNA for Tp53inp2 is NOT translated into protein in the axon, it is crucial for the internalization of TrkA/NGF.

People have studied proteins whose function it is to bind RNA for years.  They are called RBPs (RNA Binding Proteins), and our genome has 750 of them.  200 RBPs are associated with genetic disease.  This work turns everthing on its head.  Here is an RNA whose function it is to bind a protein (e.g. TrkA).

How many more mRNAs have nonCoding (for protein) parts with other functions?

Unsuspected use of RNA #2. Circular RNAs had been missed for years (although known since 1976).  The classic sequencing methods isolate only RNAs with characteristic tails (such as polyAdenine).  Circular RNAs don’t have any.    They are formed by back splicing of 3′ end of exon N to the 5′ end of exon N.  Fortunately this is only 1% as efficient as the normal way.

So what?  Circular RNAs are crucial in the innate immune response to microbial invaders.  Double stranded DNA belongs inside the nucleus.  When it gets into the cytoplasm when some organism brings it there,it binds to Protein Kinase R (PKR) activating it so it phosphorylates eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eiF2) bringing protein synthesis to a screeching halt.

This means that the cell needs a mechanism to keep PKR quiet.  This is where circular RNAs come in   [ Cell vol. 177 pp. 797 – 799, 865 – 880 ’19 ].  If the nucleotides in the circle can reach across the circle and base pair with each other forming a duplex of any length, it will bind to PKR inhibiting it.  Most circular RNAs are expressed at only a handful of copies/cell, the cell containing just 10,000 of them.

The work found that overexpression of a single circular RNA able to form duplexes (dsRNA) inhibits PKR.  Over expression of linear RNA of the same sequence does not, nor does overexpression of circular RNA which can’t form dsRNA.

So when an invader with dsDNA or dsRNA gets into the cell, RNAase L, a cytoplasmic endonuclease is activated, cleaving circular RNA, and uninhibiting PKR.

So it’s back to the drawing board for mRNA and those parts (introns, 3’UTRs) we didn’t think were doing anything.  Perhaps that’s why there are so many of them, and why they take up more room in mRNA and genes than the ones coding for amino acids.  Also it’s time to look at RNAs as protein binders and modifiers, rather than the other way around as we have been doing.

Here’s a link to an earlier member of the series — https://luysii.wordpress.com/2019/04/15/forgotten-but-not-gone-take-ii/xa

Cultural appropriation, neuroscience division

If Deng Xiaoping can have Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, I can have a Chinese saying with neuroscientific characteristics — “The axon and the dendrite are long and the nucleus is far away” mimicking “The mountains are high and the Emperor is far away”. The professionally offended will react to the latest offense du jour — cultural appropriation  — of course.  But I’m entitled and I spoke to my Chinese daughter in law, and people over there found it flattering and admiring of Chinese culture that the girl in Utah wore a Chinese cheongsam dress to her prom.

Back to the quote.  “The axon and the dendrite are long and the nucleus is far away”.  Well, neuronal ends are far away from the cell body — the best example are axons from the sacral spinal cord which in an NBA player can be a yard long.  But forget that, lets talk about the ends of dendrites which are much closer to the cell body than that.

Presumably neurons have different types of dendrites so they can respond to different types of inputs. Why should dendrites respond identically if their inputs are different? They don’t.    A dendrite responding to acetyl choline will express neurotransmitter receptors distinct from another dendrite on the same neuron distinct from a dendrite responding to dopamine.  The protein cohorts of axons and dendrites are different.  How does this come about?  Because the untranslated part of mRNA on the 3′ end (3’UTR) contains a sequence called a zipcode which binds to specific proteins which then move the mRNA to a specific location in the neuron (axon or dendrite).  Presumably all dendrites initially had the same complement of mRNA.

So depending on what’s happening at a particular dendrite on a neuron, more or less of a given protein is made.   This is way too abstract.  Suppose you want to strengthen a synapse.  You’d make more of a neurotransmitter receptor or an ion channel for whatever transmitter that dendrite is getting.

It is well established that axons and dendrites store mRNAs and make proteins from them far from the nucleus (aka the emperor).  If you think about it, just how a receptor for dopamine gets to a dendrite receiving dopamine and not to a dendrite (on the same neuron) getting glutamic acid as a transmitter, is far from clear.  There are zipcodes distinguishing axons from dendrites, but I’m unaware that there are zipcodes for dopamine dendrites distinct from other types of dendrites.

If that weren’t enough consider [ Neuron vol. 98 pp. 495 – 511 ’18 ].  Even for an mRNA coding for the same protein (presumably transcribed from just one gene), there can be more than one type of 3’UTR (and this in the same cell).  Note also that 3’UTRs are longer in neurons than in other tissues.

So the authors looked at the mRNAs in dendrites — they did this by choosing a tissue (the hippocampus) where rows of cell bodies are well separated from their dendrites.  They found that for a given dendritic mRNA there was more than one 3’UTR, and that the mRNAs with longer 3’UTRs had longer halflives.  Even more exquisitly neuronal activity altered the proportion of the different 3’UTR isoforms. The phenomenon is quite general — over 50% of all genes and over 70% of genes enriched in neurons showed multiple 3′ UTRs.

So there is a whole control system built into the dendritic system, and it varies with what is happening locally.

The emperor emits directives (mRNAs) but what happens locally is anyone’s guess