Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
Genes Dev. 2010 Mar 1;24(5):438-42. doi: 10.1101/gad.1884910.
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is caused by homozygous survival of motor neurons 1 (SMN1) gene deletions, leaving a duplicate gene, SMN2, as the sole source of SMN protein. However, most of the mRNA produced from SMN2 pre-mRNA is exon 7-skipped ( approximately 80%), resulting in a highly unstable and almost undetectable protein (SMNDelta7). We show that this splicing defect creates a potent degradation signal (degron; SMNDelta7-DEG) at SMNDelta7's C-terminal 15 amino acids. The S270A mutation inactivates SMNDelta7-DEG, generating a stable SMNDelta7 that rescues viability of SMN-deleted cells. These findings explain a key aspect of the SMA disease mechanism, and suggest new treatment approaches based on interference with SMNDelta7-DEG activity.
脊髓性肌萎缩症(SMA)是由运动神经元存活 1 号(SMN1)基因缺失的纯合子引起的,导致一个重复的基因 SMN2 成为 SMN 蛋白的唯一来源。然而,SMN2 前体 mRNA 产生的大部分 mRNA 都跳过了外显子 7(约 80%),导致产生一种极不稳定且几乎无法检测到的蛋白质(SMNDelta7)。我们表明,这种剪接缺陷在 SMNDelta7 的 C 端 15 个氨基酸处创建了一个有效的降解信号(degron;SMNDelta7-DEG)。SMNDelta7 中的 S270A 突变使其失活,产生稳定的 SMNDelta7,从而挽救 SMN 缺失细胞的活力。这些发现解释了 SMA 疾病机制的一个关键方面,并基于干扰 SMNDelta7-DEG 活性提出了新的治疗方法。