Source: University of California - San Diego | Summary: A protein once thought to be of little consequence has been found to be a central player in processes ranging from male fertility to early embryonic development, according to a new study.
"In experimental mice, researchers found that sperm production is dramatically reduced when the NMD repressor, UPF3A, is prevented from being expressed in the cells that give rise to sperm.
A protein once thought to be of little consequence has been found to be a central player in processes ranging from male fertility to early embryonic development, according to a study published in the March 31 online issue of Cell by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.
"We've obtained several lines of evidence that the UPF3A protein is a potent suppressor of the nonsense-mediated RNA decay (NMD) pathway," said Miles Wilkinson, PhD, senior author and professor in the Department of Reproductive Medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine. "UPF3A was previously thought to be just the opposite -- a promoter of the NMD pathway, but a weak one that had little effect. Thus, UPF3A was largely ignored by the field."
The NMD pathway is a critical quality control mechanism used by cells to eliminate faulty messenger RNAs (mRNAs) -- the molecules responsible for transmitting genetic code. If not degraded, these aberrant mRNAs lead to the formation of short versions of proteins that can raise havoc in cells. "By preventing the production of these truncated proteins, NMD is thought to protect against many diseases, including cancer, diabetes and a wide variety of genetic diseases," said Wilkinson..."
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