DEAD-box基因家族在拟南芥生长发育中的作用

DEAD-box: Function on Growth and Development in Arabidopsis thaliana

在RNA代谢过程中,需要许多蛋白和核酸的参与,其中一类蛋白就是RNA解旋酶。RNA解旋酶通过水解ATP获得能量来参与RNA代谢的多个方面,包括核内转录、pre-mRNA的剪切、核糖体发生、核质运输、蛋白质翻译、RNA降解、细胞器内基因的表达。DEAD-box蛋白家族是RNA解旋酶中最大的亚家族,它具有9个保守结构域,因motifyⅡ的保守氨基酸序列Asp-Glu-Ala-Asp(DEAD)而命名。该家族在酵母、拟南芥(Arabidopsis thaliana Heynh.)和人类基因组中都有较多的家庭成员。近年来,研究者对拟南芥DEAD-box蛋白家族的结构和功能进行了一些研究,本文着重总结DEAD-box基因家族对拟南芥生长发育的影响。

Many RNA molecules require proteins and other nucleic acids to assist in RNA metabolism. RNA helicases are such proteins,and participate in nearly all aspects of RNA metabolism, including transcription, pre-mRNA splicing, ribosome biogenesis, transport between the nucleus and cytoplasm, protein translation, nonsense-mediated decay, and organelle-specific RNA metabolism,in an ATP-dependent manner. The DEAD- box protein family of RNA helicases belong to superfamily Ⅱ. They have nine conserved motifs,and are named for the conserved amino acid sequence Asp-Glu-Ala-Asp（ D-E-A-D） in motif Ⅱ. DEAD- box families consist of abundant members in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Arabidopsis thaliana,and humans. Recently,the functions of some DEAD-box proteins were revealed in Arabidopsis. This review focuses on the functions of DEAD-box proteins on the growth and development of A. thaliana.