A peptide derived from a single-modified viroid-RNA can be used as an "in vivo" nucleolar marker.
Viroids are small, single-stranded, circular, non-coding pathogenic RNAs. Hop stunt viroid (HSVd) is characterized by possesses rod-like structure and replicate in the host nuclei. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusions with transit sequences or entire proteins can be used for deliberate labelling of particular cell compartments. Different GFP-fusions have been obtained to selectively illuminate different organelles and membranes in many cell types. However, as far as we know, examples for established efficient markers for nucleoli are scarce. In this work, a viroid-RNA was made translatable by inserting an ATG at position 1 and fused to the GFP. The results showed that the resultant fusion can be used as an efficient "in vivo" nucleolar marker in "real time" cellular observations. Thus, this construct can be a very useful tool to study processes related with nucleolus functions.
Gómez
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Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-UPV, Av. de los Naranjos s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain.
Pallás
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D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D015415:Biomarkers; D002466:Cell Nucleolus / Q000648:ultrastructure* / Q000821:virology; D019085:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Direct; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000648:ultrastructure* / Q000821:virology*; D014772:Viroids
D015415:Biomarkers; D010455:Peptides; D012367:RNA, Viral; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins