molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

, SNORD48 (also known as U48) is a

non-coding RNA A non-coding RNA (ncRNA) is a functional RNA molecule that is not Translation (genetics), translated into a protein. The DNA sequence from which a functional non-coding RNA is transcribed is often called an RNA gene. Abundant and functionally imp ...

(ncRNA) molecule which functions in the modification of other

small nuclear RNA Small nuclear RNA (snRNA) is a class of small RNA molecules that are found within the Cell nucleus#Splicing speckles, splicing speckles and Cajal body, Cajal bodies of the cell nucleus in eukaryotic cells. The length of an average snRNA is approxi ...

s (snRNAs). This type of modifying RNA is usually located in the

nucleolus The nucleolus (; : nucleoli ) is the largest structure in the cell nucleus, nucleus of eukaryote, eukaryotic cell (biology), cells. It is best known as the site of ribosome biogenesis. The nucleolus also participates in the formation of signa ...

of the eukaryotic cell which is a major site of snRNA biogenesis. It is known as a

small nucleolar RNA In molecular biology, small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are a class of small RNA molecules that primarily guide chemical modifications of other RNAs, mainly ribosomal RNAs, transfer RNAs and small nuclear RNAs. There are two main classes of snoRNA, t ...

(snoRNA) and also often referred to as a guide RNA. U48 belongs to the C/D box class of snoRNAs which contain the conserved sequence motifs known as the C box (UGAUGA) and the D box (CUGA). Most of the members of the box C/D family function in directing site-specific 2'-O-

methylation Methylation, in the chemistry, chemical sciences, is the addition of a methyl group on a substrate (chemistry), substrate, or the substitution of an atom (or group) by a methyl group. Methylation is a form of alkylation, with a methyl group replac ...

of substrate RNAs. This snoRNA was originally cloned from

HeLa HeLa () is an immortalized cell line used in scientific research. It is the oldest human cell line and one of the most commonly used. HeLa cells are durable and prolific, allowing for extensive applications in scientific study. The line is ...

cells and experimentally verified by

northern blotting The northern blot, or RNA blot,Gilbert, S. F. (2000) Developmental Biology, 6th Ed. Sunderland MA, Sinauer Associates. is a technique used in molecular biology research to study gene expression by detection of RNA (or isolated mRNA) in a sample.Ke ...

. SNORD48 is predicted to guide the 2'O-ribose methylation of 28S rRNA C2279. In the human genome this snoRNA is located in the

intron An intron is any nucleotide sequence within a gene that is not expressed or operative in the final RNA product. The word ''intron'' is derived from the term ''intragenic region'', i.e., a region inside a gene."The notion of the cistron .e., gen ...

s of the same host gene (C6orf48) as another C/D box snoRNA U52 (also known as SNORD52).

References

External links

* * * Small nuclear RNA {{molecular-cell-biology-stub