Oskar RNA plays multiple noncoding roles to support oogenesis and maintain integrity of the germline/soma distinction.

ABSTRACT: The Drosophila oskar (osk) mRNA is unusual in that it has both coding and noncoding functions. As an mRNA, osk encodes a protein required for embryonic patterning and germ cell formation. Independent of that function, the absence of osk mRNA disrupts formation of the karyosome and blocks progression through oogenesis. Here we show that loss of osk mRNA also affects the distribution of regulatory proteins, relaxing their association with large RNPs within the germline, and allowing them to accumulate in the somatic follicle cells. This and other noncoding functions of the osk mRNA are mediated by multiple sequence elements with distinct roles. One role, provided by numerous binding sites in two distinct regions of the osk 3' UTR, is to sequester the translational regulator Bruno (Bru), whic

SUBMITTER: Kanke M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4436663 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature