Topoisomerases are crucial for solving DNA topological problems, but they have not been linked to RNA metabolism. Here we show that human topoisomerase 3β (Top3β) is an RNA topoisomerase that biochemically and genetically interacts with FMRP, a protein that is deficient in fragile X syndrome and is known to regulate the translation of mRNAs that are important for neuronal function, abnormalities of which are linked to autism. Notably, the FMRP-Top3β interaction is abolished by a disease-associated mutation of FMRP, suggesting that Top3β may contribute to the pathogenesis of mental disorders. Top3β binds multiple mRNAs encoded by genes with neuronal functions linked to schizophrenia and autism. Expression of one such gene, that encoding protein tyrosine kinase 2 (ptk2, also known as focal adhesion kinase or FAK), is reduced in the neuromuscular junctions of Top3β mutant flies. Synapse formation is defective in Top3β mutant flies and mice, as well as in FMRP mutant flies and mice. Our findings suggest that Top3β acts as an RNA topoisomerase and works with FMRP to promote the expression of mRNAs that are crucial for neurodevelopment and mental health.
Pubmed ID: 23912945 RIS Download
Publication data is provided by the National Library of Medicine ® and PubMed ®. Data is retrieved from PubMed ® on a weekly schedule. For terms and conditions see the National Library of Medicine Terms and Conditions.
Genetic factors contribute significantly to ASD. AutismKB is an evidence-based knowledgebase of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) genetics. The current version contains 2193 genes (99 syndromic autism related genes and 2135 non-syndromic autism related genes), 4617 Copy Number Variations (CNVs) and 158 linkage regions associated with ASD by one or more of the following six experimental methods: # Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS); # Genome-wide CNV studies; # Linkage analysis; # Low-scale genetic association studies; # Expression profiling; # Other low-scale gene studies. Based on a scoring and ranking system, 99 syndromic autism related genes and 383 non-syndromic autism related genes (434 genes in total) were designated as having high confidence. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder with a prevalence of 1.0-2.6%. The three core symptoms of ASD are: # impairments in reciprocal social interaction; # communication impairments; # presence of restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities.
View all literature mentionsThe NIH Biowulf cluster is a GNU/Linux parallel processing system designed and built at the National Institutes of Health and managed by the Helix Systems Staff. The system is designed for large numbers of simultaneous jobs common in bioinformatics as well as large-scale distributed memory tasks such as molecular dynamics. Sponsor: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health Intramural Research Program through the Center for Information Technology and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and by the Internal National Institute of Standards and Technology Research Fund. Keywords: Software, Program, Processing, System, Simulatenous, Bioinformatics, Memory, Molecular, Dynamics,
View all literature mentionsImaris provides range of capabilities for working with three dimensional images. Uses flexible editing and processing functions, such as interactive surface rendering and object slicing capabilities. And output to standard TIFF, Quicktime and AVI formats. Imaris accepts virtually all image formats that are used in confocal microscopy and many of those used in wide-field image acquisition.
View all literature mentionsCell line HeLa is a Cancer cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens
View all literature mentionsCell line HEK293 is a Transformed cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens (Human)
View all literature mentionsMus musculus with name C57BL/6J from IMSR.
View all literature mentions