Grant: Project Grant

All proteins in a cell are made in the cell cytoplasm using information encoded by genes that are in the cell's nucleus. To get this information from the nucleus to cytoplasm requires intermediary molecules called RNAs. Until very recently, this messenger role for RNAs was believed to be their only function. However, our analysis of many thousands of different RNAs, using technologies developed in our lab, has shown that all RNAs possess additional information that sends them to many different locations both inside and outside of cells. For genes that encode proteins, this determines where the proteins will be made and function. We have also now shown that this subcellular 'zip code' information is also found in a new class of RNAs that don't make proteins and have novel functions of their own. This critical new level of gene regulation, when malfunctioning, is also responsible for many different diseases. Our efforts to date have mapped the cellular and subcellular distributions of approximately 10,000 RNAs, with all of the information archived on a publicly available database. The support requested here will be used to complete our analysis of the cellular and subcellular distributions of all RNAs encoded in the genome. This information is crucial for determining what these RNAs do and which partners they are likely to interact with in doing so. This work is being conducted in the fruit fly, as it has proven to be an ideal model organism for the study of these highly conserved processes.