An unexpected path for Malat1 in neurons: trafficking out of the nucleus for translation
- Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Therapeutic Innovation Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
- Corresponding author: jeremy.wilusz{at}bcm.edu
Abstract
The Malat1 (metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1) long noncoding RNA is highly and broadly expressed in mammalian tissues, accumulating in the nucleus where it modulates expression and pre-mRNA processing of many protein-coding genes. In this issue of Genes & Development, Xiao and colleagues (doi:10.1101/gad.351557.124) report that a significant fraction of Malat1 transcripts in cultured mouse neurons are surprisingly exported from the nucleus. These transcripts are packaged with Staufen proteins in RNA granules and traffic down the lengths of neurites. They then can be released in a stimulus-dependent manner to be locally translated into a microprotein that alters neuronal gene expression patterns.
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Article published online ahead of print. Article and publication date are online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.351820.124.
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