Background: Hepatitis C is a global health problem. The exact mechanisms by which hepatitis C virus (HCV) can evade the host immune system have become controversial. Whether HCV polyproteins modulate IFN signalling pathways or HCV proteins are responsible for such a property is the subject of interest. Therefore, an efficient baculovirus delivery system was developed to introduce the whole geno...

Satellite tobacco necrosis virus RNA (STNV RNA) is a naturally uncapped viral RNA that contains 1239 nucleotides: 29 in the 5' untranslated region (UTR), 591 in the coding region and 619 in the 3' UTR. Mutations were made in the 5' and 3' UTRs, and the effects of these mutations on translational efficiency and cap independence were measured in an in vitro translation system from wheat germ. Rem...

Dendritic spines undergo the processes of formation, maturation, and pruning during development. Molecular mechanisms controlling spine maturation and pruning remain largely unknown. The gene for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) produces two pools of mRNA, with either a short or long 3' untranslated region (3' UTR). Our previous results show that short 3' UTR Bdnf mRNA is restricted to ...

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD), which degrades transcripts harboring a premature termination codon (PTC), depends on the helicase up-frameshift 1 (UPF1). However, mRNAs that are not NMD targets also bind UPF1. What governs the timing, position, and function of UPF1 binding to mRNAs remains unclear. We provide evidence that (i) multiple UPF1 molecules accumulate on the 3'-untranslated region...

For a number of human genes that encode transcripts containing inverted repeat Alu elements (IRAlus) within their 3' untranslated region (UTR), product mRNA is efficiently exported to the cytoplasm when the IRAlus, which mediate nuclear retention, are removed by alternative polyadenylation. Here we report a new mechanism that promotes gene expression by targeting mRNAs that maintain their 3' UT...

It has been hypothesized that both the 3'-untranslated region (3'UTR) and the 5'-untranslated region (5'UTR) of the ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) mRNA influence the expression of the ODC protein. Here, we use luciferase expression constructs to examine the influence of both UTRs in keratinocyte derived cell lines. The ODC 5'UTR or 3'UTR was cloned into the pGL3 control vector upstream or downst...