RNA uridylation is an efficient posttranscriptional regulator of gene expression conserved in almost all eukaryotes. Terminal uridylyltransferase (TUTase) are responsible for monouridylation and oligouridylation of various RNA substrates, including snRNA, miRNA, mRNA and other ncRNAs. Studies have demonstrated that monouridylation on ncRNA intermediates alters their ultimate products and processing rates, whereas oligouridylation is often employed to degrade particular RNAs with spatio-temporal specificity and responsible for clearance of the aberrant RNAs and viral RNAs. Uridylation regulates gene expression by these two ways, therefore affects several important biological processes including organismal reproduction and early development, apoptosis, tumorigenesis, as well as virus infection. In this review, we provide the summarization of current researches on uridylation, introduce several techniques widely used for RNA 3' terminus detection, put more emphases on describing the mechanisms of how uridylation controls gene expression, and summarize the key roles of uridylation in RNA surveillance and several biological processes. Furthermore, we discuss other unsolved issues and crucial aspects of future research as well, with the aim of providing new ideas for anti-tumor and anti-virus therapies.
RNA尿苷酸化作为一种高效的转录后基因调控方式,几乎存在于所有的真核生物中。末端尿苷酸转移酶(terminal uridylyltransferase, TUTase)负责催化生物体内snRNA、miRNA、mRNA和其他ncRNA的单尿苷酸化(monouridylation)和寡尿苷酸化(oligouridylation)。研究表明,对非编码RNA中间产物的单尿苷酸化可以改变其最终产物和生成速度,而寡尿苷酸化常用于时空特异性降解特定RNA、清除质量异常的RNA和病毒RNA。尿苷酸化通过这两种方式调控RNA的生成和降解,进而影响生物的生殖和早期发育、细胞凋亡、肿瘤发生以及病毒感染等多个重要的生物过程。本文对尿苷酸化的现有研究成果进行综述,介绍了RNA 3′末端检测技术,重点阐述了尿苷酸化调控基因表达的分子机制和其在RNA监控以及多种生物过程中的关键性作用,最后讨论了待解决的科学问题和未来研究的重要方向,旨在为抗病毒和抗肿瘤的临床治疗提供新思路。.
Keywords: RNA modification; RNA surveillance; degradation; disease; ternminal uridylyltransferase (TUTase).