Nonsense-mediated messenger RNA (mRNA) decay, or NMD, is a critical process of selective degradation of mRNAs that contain premature stop codons. NMD depends on both pre-mRNA splicing and translation, and it requires recognition of the position of stop codons relative to exon-exon junctions. A key factor in NMD is hUpf3, a mostly nuclear protein that shuttles between the nucleus and cytoplasm a...

Y14 is a core component of the exon junction complex (EJC), while it also exerts cellular functions independent of the EJC. Depletion of Y14 causes G2/M arrest, DNA damage and apoptosis. Here we show that knockdown of Y14 induces the expression of an alternative spliced isoform of p53, namely p53β, in human cells. Y14, in the context of the EJC, inhibited aberrant exon inclusion during the spli...

We report the identification of a female patient with the Xlinked recessive Lesch-Nyhan syndrome (hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase [HPRTI deficiency). Cytogenetic and carrier studies revealed structurally normal chromosomes for this patient and her parents and demonstrated that this mutation arose through a de novo gametic event. Comparison of this patient's DNA with the DNA of her parent...

The study’s goal is to evaluate the effectiveness of erlotinib in patients with EGFR mutant metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC). patient's medical data were analyzed retrospectively. Erlotinib's was assessed by radiological response. Survival analyzes done for prognostic factors. Eighty-five included study. 49 (57.6%) female, and average age 60 (range, 33-85). Exon 19, ...

Exon junction complexes (EJCs) are deposited onto mRNAs during splicing, serve as positional landmarks for the intron exon structure of genes, and direct posttranscriptional processes in the cytoplasm. EJC removal and recycling by translation are ill understood and have been attributed to ribosomal passage. This work identifies the ribosome-associated protein PYM as an EJC disassembly factor an...

The nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway detects aberrant transcripts containing premature termination codons (PTCs) and regulates expression of 5-10% of non-aberrant human mRNAs. To date, most proteins involved in NMD have been identified by genetic screens in model organisms; however, the increased complexity of gene expression regulation in human cells suggests that additional proteins...

The exon junction complex (EJC) is an RNA binding complex comprised of the core components Magoh, Rbm8a, and Eif4a3. Human mutations in EJC components cause neurodevelopmental pathologies. Further, mice heterozygous for either Magoh or Rbm8a exhibit aberrant neurogenesis and microcephaly. Yet despite the requirement of these genes for neurodevelopment, the pathogenic mechanisms linking EJC dysf...