Strasbourg Cedex, France. It is well-known that Ribonucleic acid (RNA) takes genetic information from the genome and transports it to the ribosome (or protein factory) in a process called translation. Our knowedge has expanded and we now know that RNA has other roles, such as the regulation of gene expression.

 

Ribonucleic acid (RNA), a nucleic acid, is an important structural component in the cell nucleus and ribosomes. RNA is transcribed from Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) by enzymes called RNA polymerases as a long chain of nucleotide units. It is generally further processed by other enzymes. RNA is central to the synthesis of proteins. 

 

We now know that errors in transcribing RNA from DNA are frequent and require a variety of elaborate quality control mechanisms to prevent both mis-regulation of genes, and the manufacture of aberrant RNA and protein fragments that clog up the workings of the cell. If left unchecked, such errors can cause a variety of misconfigurations and disorders, including cancers.

 

The field of RNA biology is complex, requiring access to the latest equipment and techniques of imaging, gene expression analysis and bioinformatics, as well as cross-pollination between multiple scientific disciplines. This has led to a major European initiative to integrate the field by sponsoring a network of overlapping multidisciplinary projects. The overall effort is under the aegis of the European Science Foundation (ESF) with its European Collaborative Research (EUROCORES) Program.

 

The EUROCORES Program is the framework for its RNAQuality collection of projects. The ne field of RNA quality control has only recently emerged. Sixteen research groups from nine European countries participate in RNAQuality, aiming at uncovering processes that act as quality control checkpoints in gene expression and understand how these function at a molecular level.

 

RNAQuality funds three major Collaborative Research Projects and recently hosted its first conference in Granada (June 2008). The conference attendees included many European groups and leading US pioneers, who welcomed the new initiative as an important collaborative force.

 

Conference delegates heard about the potential for creating new compounds that manipulate the cell's DNA-to-RNA transcription apparatus to overcome a number of serious disorders caused by deleterious mutations in specific genes — distinct from problems with the RNA itself. A presentation by Jacobson described a molecule that overcomes a common genetic deficiency that prevents specific genes from being read right up to the end of their sequence during transcription. He pointed out that there are about 2400 human genetic disorders resulting from mutations that cause genes to be incompletely read, including cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy.

 

A drug based on the molecule has entered that could lead to general availability. Results so far indicate dramatic improvements in both cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy sufferers, although it is only suitable for those disorders caused by the presence of a premature stop sign in a gene sequence, as a result of a mutation. However, it does highlight the huge therapeutic potential of the research into RNA and its quality control.

 

Significant progress has been made in different aspects of RNA research over the last decade or more, leading to the current situation where many groups are working on different aspects of the problem. The challenge being met by the ESF's RNAQuality Programme is to bring these groups together, and make Europe a much greater force in the field, according to Jim Anderson, from Marquette University's Department of Biological Sciences in the US.

 

Another important aspect of RNA research lies in the interaction between DNA transcription, and the physical structure both of the membrane-bound cell nucleus and the genome coiled within it. Genes are transcribed within the nucleus and the resulting RNA molecules then emerge through small holes that are connected to the genome by proteins called nuclear pore complexes.

 

In one of the presentations, Nick Proudfoot from Oxford University in the UK explained how some genes are enhanced by being close to the nuclear pore complex, indicating a close relationship between gene expression and nuclear structure that must have played out through evolutionary history.

 

Proudfoot also stressed that some genes are expressed more efficiently for a different reason, because the section of DNA containing their sequence is coiled locally into a loop, rather than as a branch. Quite simply, this speeds up the transcription process of reading the gene because the enzyme concerned, RNA Polymerase, can just keep on encircling the loop.

 

As Proudfoot explained, this is relevant for quality control as well. "They may afford quality control by "telling" the polymerase it is transcribing a bona fide gene, with a proper beginning and end," said Proudfoot. "Otherwise the polymerase may have initiated erroneously." The existence of a DNA ring makes it easier to identify the sequence corresponding to a gene, and transcribe it correctly.

 

The RNAQuality Programme comes under the European Science Foundation (ESF) scheme, called the European Collaborative Research (EUROCORES) Program, and is scheduled to last 3 years. The aim is to develop collaboration and scientific synergy in areas where European scale and scope are required to reach the critical mass necessary for top class science in a global context. The scheme provides a flexible framework which allows national basic research funding and performing organisations to join forces to support excellence in and across all scientific areas.

The ESF provides scientific coordination and support for networking activities of funded scientists currently through the EC FP6 Programme, under contract no. ERAS-CT-2003-980409. Research funding is provided by participating national organizations.

 

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