How RNAs Called SINEUPs Upregulate Translation

The recently discovered long noncoding RNAs seem to boost the production of specific proteins in the cell by interacting with RNA-binding proteins, researchers find.

Written byCatherine Offord

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ABOVE: A synthetic SINEUP (blue) and its target mRNA (red) colocalize in the cytoplasm as part of a process that appears to help upregulate that mRNA's translation.
NAOKO TOKI

The paper
N. Toki et al., “SINEUP long non-coding RNA acts via PTBP1 and HNRNPK to promote translational initiation assemblies,” Nucleic Acids Res, 48:11626–44, 2020.

A few years ago, Piero Carninci of the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences in Japan and colleagues discovered a novel type of RNA. These long, noncoding RNAs contain repetitive sequences called short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs), and they upregulate the translation of specific mRNAs with complementary base sequences. Carninci and colleagues called the RNAs SINEUPs.

Curious about how the upregulation works, the team recently delved into the process using a synthetic SINEUP that targets mRNA coding for green fluorescent protein (GFP). The researchers used plasmids to transfect genes for the synthetic SINEUP and for GFP mRNA into ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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