title: RNA-binding proteins in regulation of alternative cleavage and polyadenylation.
abstract: Almost all eukaryotic pre-mRNAs are processed at the 3' end by the cleavage and polyadenylation (C/P) reaction, which preludes termination of transcription and gives rise to the poly(A) tail of mature mRNA. Genomic studies in recent years have indicated that most eukaryotic mRNA genes have multiple cleavage and polyadenylation sites (pAs), leading to alternative cleavage and polyadenylation (APA) products. APA isoforms generally differ in their 3' untranslated regions (3' UTRs), but can also have different coding sequences (CDSs). APA expands the repertoire of transcripts expressed from the genome, and is highly regulated under various physiological and pathological conditions. Growing lines of evidence have shown that RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) play important roles in regulation of APA. Some RBPs are part of the machinery for C/P; others influence pA choice through binding to adjacent regions. In this chapter, we review cis elements and trans factors involved in C/P, the significance of APA, and increasingly elucidated roles of RBPs in APA regulation. We also discuss analysis of APA using transcriptome-wide techniques as well as molecular biology approaches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)-New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Ave., Newark, NJ, 07103, USA.
authors.forename: Dinghai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tian
mesh_terms: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D015894:Genome, Human / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D026723:Polyadenylation / Q000502:physiology*; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins