An iron responsive element-like stem-loop regulates alpha-hemoglobin-stabilizing protein mRNA.

ABSTRACT: Hemoglobin production during erythropoiesis is mechanistically coupled to the acquisition and metabolism of iron. We discovered that iron regulates the expression of alpha-hemoglobin-stabilizing protein (AHSP), a molecular chaperone that binds and stabilizes free alpha-globin during hemoglobin synthesis. In primates, the 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of AHSP mRNA contains a nucleotide sequence resembling iron responsive elements (IREs), stem-loop structures that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally by binding iron regulatory proteins (IRPs). The AHSP IRE-like stem-loop deviates from classical consensus sequences and binds IRPs poorly in electrophoretic mobility shift assays. However, in cytoplasmic extracts, AHSP mRNA co-immunoprecipitates with IRPs in a fashion that is dependent

SUBMITTER: dos Santos CO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2555993 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature