MacNicol Angus M, Wilczynska Anna, MacNicol Melanie C
Department of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences, Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 W. Markham, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA.
Biochem Soc Trans. 2008 Jun;36(Pt 3):528-30. doi: 10.1042/BST0360528.
The evolutionarily conserved RNA-binding protein, Musashi, regulates neural stem cell self-renewal. Musashi expression is also indicative of stem cell populations in breast and intestinal tissues and is linked to cell overproliferation in cancers of these tissues. Musashi has been primarily implicated as a repressor of target mRNAs in stem cell populations. However, little is known about the mechanism by which Musashi exerts mRNA translational control or how Musashi function is regulated. Recent findings in oocytes of the frog, Xenopus, indicate an unexpected role for Musashi as an activator of a number of maternal mRNAs during meiotic cell cycle progression. Given the importance of Musashi function in stem cell biology and the implications of aberrant Musashi expression in cancer, it is critical that we understand the molecular processes that regulate Musashi function.
进化上保守的RNA结合蛋白Musashi可调节神经干细胞的自我更新。Musashi的表达也表明乳腺和肠道组织中存在干细胞群体,并且与这些组织的癌症中的细胞过度增殖有关。Musashi主要被认为是干细胞群体中靶mRNA的阻遏物。然而,关于Musashi发挥mRNA翻译控制的机制或Musashi功能如何被调节知之甚少。最近在青蛙非洲爪蟾的卵母细胞中的发现表明,Musashi在减数分裂细胞周期进程中作为多种母体mRNA的激活剂具有意想不到的作用。鉴于Musashi功能在干细胞生物学中的重要性以及Musashi异常表达在癌症中的影响,了解调节Musashi功能的分子过程至关重要。