U4atac minor spliceosomal RNA is a ncRNA which is an essential component of the minor U12-type spliceosome complex. The U12-type spliceosome is required for removal of the rarer class of

eukaryotic The eukaryotes ( ) constitute the Domain (biology), domain of Eukaryota or Eukarya, organisms whose Cell (biology), cells have a membrane-bound cell nucleus, nucleus. All animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, seaweeds, and many unicellular organisms ...

introns An intron is any Nucleic acid sequence, 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 ...

(AT-AC, U12-type). U4atac snRNA is proposed to form a base-paired complex with another spliceosomal RNA U6atac via two stem loop regions. These interacting stem loops have been shown to be required for

in vivo Studies that are ''in vivo'' (Latin for "within the living"; often not italicized in English) are those in which the effects of various biological entities are tested on whole, living organisms or cells, usually animals, including humans, an ...

splicing. U4atac also contains a 3' Sm protein binding site which has been shown to be essential for splicing activity. U4atac is the functional analog of

U4 spliceosomal RNA The U4 small nuclear Ribo-Nucleic Acid (U4 snRNA) is a non-coding RNA component of the major or U2-dependent spliceosome – a eukaryotic molecular machine involved in the splicing of pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA). It forms a duplex with U6 spli ...

in the major U2-type spliceosomal complex. The

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' (), from Ancient Greek δρόσος (''drósos''), meaning "dew", and φίλος (''phílos''), meaning "loving", is a genus of fly, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or p ...

U4atac snRNA has an additional predicted 3' stem loop terminal to the Sm binding site.

Disease

It has been shown that mutations in the U4atac snRNA can cause microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type I (MOPD I), also called Taybi-Linder syndrome (TALS). MOPD I is a developmental disorder that is associated with brain and skeletal abnormalities. It has been shown that the mutations cause defective U12 splicing.

References

External links

* Non-coding RNA Spliceosome RNA splicing {{molecular-cell-biology-stub