The human IMPs (insulin-like growth factor II mRNA-binding proteins) belong to a vertebrate zipcode-binding protein family consisting of two RNA recognition motifs and four K homology domains and have been implicated in cytoplasmic mRNA localization, turnover and translational control. In the present study, we show that IMP1 is capable of translocating into nuclei of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts and its...

Protein expression depends significantly on the stability, translation efficiency and localization of mRNA. These qualities are largely dictated by the RNA-binding proteins associated with an mRNA. Here, we report a method to visualize and localize RNA-protein interactions in living mammalian cells. Using this method, we found that the fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) isoform 18 and ...

The IGF-II mRNA-binding proteins (IMPs), which are composed of two RNA recognition motifs, (RRM) and four hnRNP K homology (KH) domains, have been implicated in subcytoplasmic localization of mRNAs during embryogenesis. The IMP family originated via two gene duplications before the divergence of vertebrates, and IMP homologues consisting of only the four KH motifs have been identified in Drosop...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a lethal neurodegenerative disease specifically affecting spinal motor neurons. SMA is caused by the homozygous deletion or mutation of the survival of motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene. The SMN protein plays an essential role in the assembly of spliceosomal ribonucleoproteins. However, it is still unclear how low levels of the ubiquitously expressed SMN protein lead t...

Stem cell properties change over time to match the changing growth and regeneration demands of tissues. We showed previously that adult forebrain stem cell function declines during aging because of increased expression of let-7 microRNAs, evolutionarily conserved heterochronic genes that reduce HMGA2 expression. Here we asked whether let-7 targets also regulate changes between fetal and adult s...

Murine leukemia virus (MLV)-based retroviral vector is widely used for gene transfer. Efficient packaging of the genomic RNA is critical for production of high-titer virus. Here, we report that expression of the insulin-like growth factor II mRNA binding protein 1 (IMP1) enhanced the production of infectious MLV vector. Overexpression of IMP1 increased the stability of viral genomic RNA in viru...

and foreword: People like to assign the attribute speed (i. e. performance) not only to hardware but also to software. But software does not have an attribute speed. Software defines for each user initiated task a sequence of information processing steps (machine instructions) to be performed. A suitable term for the aspect under construction can only be found when having a second imlementation...

Repression of poly(A)-binding protein (PABP) mRNA translation involves the binding of PABP to the adenine-rich autoregulatory sequence (ARS) in the 5'-untranslated region of its own mRNA. In this report, we show that the ARS forms a complex in vitro with PABP, and two additional polypeptides of 63 and 105 kDa. The 63 and 105 kDa polypeptides were identified, as IMP1, an ortholog of chicken zip-...

Ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths among women. There is an urgent need of better approaches for the identification of appropriate biomarkers in the early detection of ovarian cancer. The aim of this study was to elucidate the significance of autoantibodies against insulin-like growth factor II mRNA-binding proteins (IMPs) in patients with ovarian cancer. In th...

Metastasis involves tumor cell detachment from the primary tumor, and acquisition of migratory and invasive capabilities. These capabilities are mediated by multiple events, including loss of cell-cell contact, an increase in focal adhesion turnover and failure to maintain a normal cell polarity. We have previously reported that silencing of the expression of the zipcode-binding protein IMP1/ZB...