Cell
Volume 46, Issue 5, 29 August 1986, Pages 659-667
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Article
A conserved AU sequence from the 3′ untranslated region of GM-CSF mRNA mediates selective mRNA degradation

https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-8674(86)90341-7Get rights and content

Abstract

The mRNAs of transiently expressed genes frequently contain an AU-rich sequence in the 3′ untranslated region. We introduced a 51 nucleotide AT sequence from a human lymphokine gene, GM-CSF, into the 3′ untranslated region of the rabbit β-globin gene. Our experiments demonstrate that this caused the otherwise stable β-globin mRNA to become highly unstable in vivo. The instability conferred by the AU sequence in the mRNA was partially alleviated by treatment of the cells with cycloheximide. We propose that the AU sequences are the recognition signal for an mRNA processing pathway which specifically degrades the mRNAs for certain lymphokines, cytokines, and proto-oncogenes.

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