A protein related to the vaccinia virus cap-specific methyltransferase VP39 is involved in cap 4 modification in Trypanosoma brucei.

ABSTRACT: The spliced-leader (SL) RNA plays a key role in the biogenesis of mRNA in trypanosomes by providing the m(7)G-capped SL sequence to the 5' end of every mRNA. The cap structure of the SL RNA is unique in eukaryotes with 4 nucleotides after the cap carrying a total of seven methyl groups and by convention is referred to as "cap 4". Although the enzymatic machinery for cap addition has been characterized in several organisms, including Trypanosoma brucei, the identification of methyltransferases dedicated to the generation of higher order cap structures has lagged behind, except in viruses. Here we describe T. brucei MT57 (TbMT57), a primarily nuclear polypeptide with structural and functional similarities to vaccinia virus VP39, a bifunctional protein acting at the mRNA 5' end as a cap-speci

SUBMITTER: Arhin GK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1370885 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature