title: Mechanistic links between nonsense-mediated mRNA decay and pre-mRNA splicing in mammalian cells.
abstract: Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) generally involves nonsense codon recognition by translating ribosomes at a position approximately 25 nts upstream of a splicing-generated exon junction complex of proteins. As such, NMD provides a means to degrade abnormal mRNAs that encode potentially deleterious truncated proteins. Additionally, an estimated one-third of naturally occurring, alternatively spliced mRNAs is also targeted for NMD. Given the extraordinary frequency of alternative splicing together with data indicating that naturally occurring transcripts other than alternatively spliced mRNAs are likewise targeted for NMD, it is believed that mammalian cells routinely utilize NMD to achieve proper levels of gene expression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lejeune
authors.forename: Lynne E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Maquat
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018389:Codon, Nonsense / Q000235:genetics*; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D012326:RNA Splicing / Q000502:physiology*; D020871:RNA Stability / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018389:Codon, Nonsense; D012333:RNA, Messenger