Internal ribosome entry segment activity of ATXN8 opposite strand RNA

PLoS One. 2013 Sep 11;8(9):e73885. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0073885. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 8 (SCA8) involves the expansion of CTG/CAG repeats from the overlapping ataxin 8 opposite strand (ATXN8OS) and ataxin 8 (ATXN8) genes located on chromosome 13q21. Although being transcribed, spliced and polyadenylated in the CTG orientation, ATXN8OS does not itself appear to be protein coding, as only small open reading frames (ORFs) were noted. In the present study we investigated the translation of a novel 102 amino acids containing-ORF in the ATXN8OS RNA. Expression of chimeric construct with an in-frame ORF-EGFP gene demonstrated that ATXN8OS RNA is translatable. Using antiserum raised against ORF, ATXN8OS ORF expression was detected in various human cells including lymphoblastoid, embryonic kidney 293, neuroblastoma IMR-32, SK-N-SH, SH-SY5Y cells and human muscle tissue. The biological role of the ATXN8OS ORF and its connection to SCA8 remains to be determined.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cell Line
  • Gene Expression
  • Gene Order
  • Humans
  • Open Reading Frames
  • RNA / genetics*
  • RNA / metabolism*
  • RNA, Long Noncoding / genetics*
  • RNA, Long Noncoding / metabolism
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism
  • Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid

Substances

  • ATXN8OS gene product, human
  • RNA, Long Noncoding
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • RNA

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants NSC95-3112-B-003-002 and NSC97-2311-B-003-010-MY3 from the National Science Council, Executive Yuan, and NTNU100-D-02 from National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.