Disruptive mRNA folding increases translational efficiency of catechol-O-methyltransferase variant.

ABSTRACT: Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is a major enzyme controlling catecholamine levels that plays a central role in cognition, affective mood and pain perception. There are three common COMT haplotypes in the human population reported to have functional effects, divergent in two synonymous and one nonsynonymous position. We demonstrate that one of the haplotypes, carrying the non-synonymous variation known to code for a less stable protein, exhibits increased protein expression in vitro. This increased protein expression, which would compensate for lower protein stability, is solely produced by a synonymous variation (C(166)T) situated within the haplotype and located in the 5' region of the RNA transcript. Based on mRNA secondary structure predictions, we suggest that structural destabili

SUBMITTER: Tsao D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3152328 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature