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Current Protein & Peptide Science

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1389-2037
ISSN (Online): 1875-5550

Review Article

PUF Proteins: Cellular Functions and Potential Applications

Author(s): Seyed Jalal Kiani, Tahereh Taheri, Sima Rafati and Katayoun Samimi-Rad

Volume 18, Issue 3, 2017

Page: [250 - 261] Pages: 12

DOI: 10.2174/1389203717666160914172908

Price: $65

Abstract

RNA-binding proteins play critical roles in the regulation of gene expression. Among several families of RNA-binding proteins, PUF (Pumilio and FBF) proteins have been the subject of extensive investigations, as they can bind RNA in a sequence-specific manner and they are evolutionarily conserved among a wide range of organisms. The outstanding feature of these proteins is a highly conserved RNA-binding domain, which is known as the Pumilio-homology domain (PUM-HD) that mostly consists of eight tandem repeats. Each repeat recognizes an RNA base with a simple three-letter code that can be programmed in order to change the sequence-specificity of the protein. Using this tailored architecture, researchers have been able to change the specificity of the PUM-HD and target desired transcripts in the cell, even in subcellular compartments. The potential applications of this versatile tool in molecular cell biology seem unbounded and the use of these factors in pharmaceutics might be an interesting field of study in near future.

Keywords: RNA-binding proteins, PUF proteins, pumilio-homology domain, pumilio-binding element, gene expression, sequence- specificity.

Graphical Abstract

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