snoRNPs

Vanda Pogačić, Friedrich Miescher Institut, Basel, Switzerland
Witold Filipowicz, Friedrich Miescher Institut, Basel, Switzerland

Published online: September 2005

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0005031

snoRNPs are nucleolus-localized ribonucleoprotein particles that comprise small RNAs (snoRNAs) and a few associated proteins. Known snoRNPs can be subdivided into two major classes, C/D and H/ACA, which direct site-specific 2¢-O-ribose methylation and pseudouridylation of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) respectively. Some snoRNPs participate in precursor rRNA processing.

Keywords: snoRNAs; RNA modification; rRNA processing; methylation; pseudouridylation

Figure 1. Structure of guide snoRNAs and their interaction with target RNAs. The secondary structures of the C/D-box and H/ACA-box snoRNAs are shown, with the conserved sequence elements and base-paired target RNAs indicated. Most snoRNAs contain one rather than two functional domains. 2¢-O-ribose methylation is carried out on the RNA residue that is base-paired with the fifth position upstream from box D (or D¢). Pseudouridine () formation in RNA occurs on the unpaired uridine residue upstream from the H box or the ACA box (usually 14–16 nt from the box). snoRNAs of each class are associated with a set of specific proteins that are not shown.
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 References
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 Further Reading
    Eddy SR (2001) Non-coding RNA genes and the modern RNA world. Nature Reviews Genetics 2: 919–929.
    Kiss T (2001) Small nucleolar RNA-guided post-transcriptional modification of cellular RNAs. EMBO Journal 20: 3617–3622.
    Lafontaine DL and Tollervey D (1998) Birth of the snoRNPs: the evolution of the modification-guide snoRNAs. Trends in Biochemical Sciences 23: 383–388.
 Web Links
    ePath Dyskeratosis congenita 1 (DKC1); LocusID: 1736. LocusLink: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/LocusLink/LocRpt.cgi?l=1736
    ePath Dyskeratosis congenita 1 (DKC1); MIM number: 300126. OMIM: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Omim/dispmim?300126

Related Sub-Topics:

Basic Cell Biology, Protein, RNA and DNA | RNA Structure and Function | Noncoding RNA | Nucleic Acids: Structure, Function, Metabolism
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Article Title: snoRNPs
 
How to Cite close
Pogačić, Vanda, and Filipowicz, Witold(Sep 2005) snoRNPs. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0005031]