Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

GENE REGULATION

Extreme conservation encodes the structural dynamics and function of 5′ UTRs

Nature Genetics volume 53, pages 591–592 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

RNA is dynamic and can fold into multiple alternative conformations. A new study shows that cells control mRNA translation by regulating the stoichiometry of alternative RNA structures formed from extremely conserved sequences of 5′ untranslated regions and that this control may contribute to embryonic development.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: h5UTRs may act as key regulators of translation during vertebrate development.

References

  1. Katzman, S. et al. Science 317, 915–915 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Visel, A. et al. Nat. Genet. 40, 158–160 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Calin, G. A. et al. Cancer Cell 12, 215–229 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Lareau, L. F., Inada, M., Green, R. E., Wengrod, J. C. & Brenner, S. E. Nature 446, 926–929 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Pirnie, S. P., Osman, A., Zhu, Y. & Carmichael, G. G. Nucleic Acids Res. 45, 3473–3486 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Byeon, G. W. et al. Nat. Genet. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-021-00830-1 (2021).

  7. Leppek, K., Das, R. & Barna, M. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 19, 158–174 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Mokrejš, M. et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 38, D131–D136 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Lacerda, R., Menezes, J. & Romão, L. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 74, 1659–1680 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Xue, S. et al. Nature 517, 33–38 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Reymond, C., Beaudoin, J.-D. & Perreault, J.-P. Cell Mol. Life Sci. 66, 3937–3950 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Ganser, L. R., Kelly, M. L., Herschlag, D. & Al-Hashimi, H. M. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 20, 474–489 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Mustoe, A. M., Lama, N. N., Irving, P. S., Olson, S. W. & Weeks, K. M. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 24574–24582 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Tomezsko, P. J. et al. Nature 582, 438–442 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Morandi, E. et al. Nat. Methods 18, 249–252 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, Institute for Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA

    Amit Gupta & Jean-Denis Beaudoin

Authors
  1. Amit Gupta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jean-Denis Beaudoin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean-Denis Beaudoin.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gupta, A., Beaudoin, JD. Extreme conservation encodes the structural dynamics and function of 5′ UTRs. Nat Genet 53, 591–592 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-021-00869-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-021-00869-0

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing