title: Polymorphic CUG repeats in human mRNAs and their effects on gene expression.
abstract: Expanded CUG repeats in the 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of the gene encoding myotonic dystrophy protein kinase (DMPK) cause myotonic dystrophy type 1 disease (DM1). The presence of such repeats has been found to impede gene expression at several levels in model systems. We took a bioinformatic approach to survey all human mRNA sequences for polymorphic CUG repeats. Our survey revealed that CUG repeats occur widely in various regions of mRNAs, with higher frequency in protein coding regions than 5'-UTRs or 3'-UTRs. About 30 genes were found to contain CUG repeats that are polymorphic in the number of repeats, suggesting the potential to expand or shrink. However, long polymorphic repeats were restricted to the 3'-UTR of the DMPK gene and the coding region of the ribosomal protein L14 gene. Using cell-free translation systems, we showed that extended CUG repeats can inhibit protein synthesis in vitro in the rabbit reticulocyte lysate, but not in wheat germ extracts, consistent with our previous finding of an interaction of CUG repeats with the protein kinase PKR. In transfected cells, CUG repeats can inhibit gene expression both in cis and in trans. However, observations with PKR-minus cells indicate that these effects are not primarily attributable to the interaction of extended CUG repeats with PKR. Northwestern blotting detected the presence in human cells of more CUG-binding proteins than are currently known.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey 07101-1709, USA. btian@umdnj.edu <btian@umdnj.edu>
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Rupa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mukhopadhyay
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Mathews
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D011817:Rabbits; D018911:Trinucleotide Repeats / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D014908:Triticum
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger