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. 1998 Apr 15;331(Pt 2):387–393. doi: 10.1042/bj3310387

Nucleolar protein p120 contains an arginine-rich domain that binds to ribosomal RNA.

W C Gustafson 1, C W Taylor 1, B C Valdez 1, D Henning 1, A Phippard 1, Y Ren 1, H Busch 1, E Durban 1
PMCID: PMC1219366  PMID: 9531475

Abstract

Human proliferation-associated protein p120 has previously been shown to localize to the nucleolus, and several functional domains of p120 have been elucidated. By using a nitrocellulose filter binding assay and a Northwestern blotting procedure this study shows that recombinant p120 binds to an rRNA fragment in vitro with a dissociation constant of 4 nM. The specific RNA-binding region of p120 (residues 1-57) was identified with glutathione S-transferase-fused p120 deletion constructs and Northwestern blotting procedures. This RNA-binding region of p120, which includes the nucleolar localization signal of p120, is similar to the arginine-rich RNA-binding regions found in other RNA-binding proteins such as HIV Rev and Tat. Experiments in vivo with HeLa cell nucleolar extracts showed that p120 was associated with the 60-80S pre-ribosomal particles. This association is disrupted by treatment with either RNase A or buffer of high ionic strength. These results suggest that p120 might be involved in rRNA/ribosome maturation, consistent with the role of the yeast homologue Nop2p in rRNA biogenesis.

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Selected References

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