Cell
Volume 107, Issue 4, 16 November 2001, Pages 489-499
Journal home page for Cell

Article
Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein Targets G Quartet mRNAs Important for Neuronal Function

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-8674(01)00566-9Get rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

Abstract

Loss of fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) function causes the fragile X mental retardation syndrome. FMRP harbors three RNA binding domains, associates with polysomes, and is thought to regulate mRNA translation and/or localization, but the RNAs to which it binds are unknown. We have used RNA selection to demonstrate that the FMRP RGG box binds intramolecular G quartets. This data allowed us to identify mRNAs encoding proteins involved in synaptic or developmental neurobiology that harbor FMRP binding elements. The majority of these mRNAs have an altered polysome association in fragile X patient cells. These data demonstrate that G quartets serve as physiologically relevant targets for FMRP and identify mRNAs whose dysregulation may underlie human mental retardation.

Cited by (0)