The steroid receptor RNA activator (SRA) has the unusual property to function as both a non-coding RNA (ncRNA) and a protein SRAP. SRA ncRNA is known to increase the activity of a range of nuclear receptors as well as the master regulator of muscle differentiation MyoD. The contribution of SRA to either a ncRNA or a protein is influenced by alternative splicing of the first intron, the retentio...

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) steroid receptor RNA activator (SRA) has been identified to activate steroid receptor transcriptional activity and participate in tumor pathogenesis. This case-control study evaluated the association between two haplotype tagging SNPs (htSNPs) (rs10463297, rs801460) of the whole SRA sequence and breast cancer risk. We found that rs10463297 TC genotype significantly ...

In a widely accepted model, the steroid receptor RNA activator protein (SRA protein; SRAP) modulates the transcriptional regulatory activity of SRA RNA by binding a specific stem-loop of SRA. We first confirmed that SRAP is present in the nucleus as well as the cytoplasm of MCF-7 breast cancer cells, where it is expressed at the level of about 10(5) molecules per cell. However, our SRAP-RNA bin...

The most abundant of the modified nucleosides, and once considered as the "fifth" nucleotide in RNA, is pseudouridine, which results from the action of pseudouridine synthases. Recently, the mammalian pseudouridine synthase 1 (hPus1p) has been reported to modulate class I and class II nuclear receptor responses through its ability to modify the Steroid receptor RNA Activator (SRA). These findin...

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) is a master transcriptional regulator of adipogenesis. Hence, the identification of PPARγ coactivators should help reveal mechanisms controlling gene expression in adipose tissue development and physiology. We show that the non-coding RNA, Steroid receptor RNA Activator (SRA), associates with PPARγ and coactivates PPARγ-dependent reporter gen...

While functional roles of several long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been determined, the molecular mechanisms are not well understood. Here, we report the first experimentally derived secondary structure of a human lncRNA, the steroid receptor RNA activator (SRA), 0.87 kB in size. The SRA RNA is a non-coding RNA that coactivates several human sex hormone receptors and is strongly associated w...

The Steroid Receptor RNA Activator (SRA) enhances adipogenesis and increases both glucose uptake and phosphorylation of Akt and FOXO1 in response to insulin. To assess the mechanism, we differentiated ST2 mesenchymal precursor cells that did or did not overexpress SRA into adipocytes using combinations of methylisobutylxanthine, dexamethasone and insulin. These studies showed that SRA overexpre...

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been recognized as key players in transcriptional regulation. We show that the lncRNA steroid receptor RNA activator (SRA) participates in regulation through complex formation with trithorax group (TrxG) and polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) complexes. Binding of the SRA-associated RNA helicase p68 preferentially stabilizes complex formation between SRA an...

We have recently shown that the non-coding RNA, steroid receptor RNA activator (SRA), functions as a transcriptional coactivator of PPARγ and promotes adipocyte differentiation in vitro. To assess SRA function in vivo, we have generated a whole mouse Sra1 gene knock-out (SRA(-/-)). Here, we show that the Sra1 gene is an important regulator of adipose tissue mass and function. SRA is expressed a...