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Transcriptomics

There's nothing abnormal about chimeric RNA

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 9, page 734 (2008)Cite this article

A chromosomal translocation that joins the first 3 exons of JAZF1 to the last 15 exons of JJAZ1 (also called SUZ12) has been found in several endometrial cancers, and has been shown to confer resistance to apoptosis when expressed in normal cells. Sklar and colleagues investigated whether a similar fusion is present in various normal endometrial cell lines. Using RT-PCR, RNase protection and western blotting they showed that the chimeric JAZF1–JJAZ1 mRNA and protein are found — with identical sequence to that in cancer cells — in endometrial cells but not in other cell types.

The levels of the chimeric mRNA oscillated with the menstrual cycle in a predictable fashion, implying that the process is regulated rather than accidental. The authors investigated this further by showing that steroid hormones and hypoxia could alter levels of the chimeric mRNA, and that these treatments did not affect the expression of the separate JAZF1 and JJAZ1 mRNAs.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Li, H., Wang, J., Mor, G. & Sklar, J. A neoplastic gene fusion mimics trans-splicing of RNAs in normal human cells. Science 321, 1357–1361 (2008)

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FURTHER READING

  1. Kapranov, P., Willingham A. T. & Gingeras, T. R. Genome-wide transcription and the implications for genomic organization. Nature Rev. Genet. 8, 413–423 (2007)

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Authors
  1. Patrick Goymer
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Goymer, P. There's nothing abnormal about chimeric RNA. Nat Rev Genet 9, 734 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg2459

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg2459

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