Journal of Cell Science 115, e1905-e1905 (2002)
Copyright © 2002 The Company of Biologists Limited
doi:
tau mRNA trafficking
Transport of mRNAs to specific subcellular regions — and their
subsequent local translation — is important for the development of
polarity and normal function in many cell types, particularly neurons. Protein
complexes containing cytoskeletal motors that mediate transport appear to bind
to specific sequences in these mRNAs, but in most cases the identities of the
proteins involved are not known. Irith Ginzburg and co-workers have therefore
investigated trafficking of mRNA encoding the neuronal cytoskeletal protein
tau, which is targeted to axons by an axonal-localization sequence (ALS) in
its 3' untranslated region (see
p. 3817). Using biochemical
and morphological methods, they demonstrate that the RNP granules in which tau
mRNA is transported also contain the kinesin-family microtubule motor KIF3A
and HuD — an RNA-binding and stabilizing protein that binds to the ALS
and the authors show immunoprecipitates with KIF3A. Ginzburg and co-workers
also demonstrate that antisense KIF3A mRNA blocks axonal targeting of tau
mRNA. They therefore propose that KIF3A drives trafficking of this RNA along
microtubules and that HuD functions as an adaptor that links it to the
motor.
Related articles in JCS:
- Visualization of translated tau protein in the axons of neuronal P19 cells and characterization of tau RNP granules
- Stella Aronov, Gonzalo Aranda, Leah Behar, and Irith Ginzburg
JCS 2002 115: 3817-3827.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
