Friday, 16 November 2018 | 12:00 noon
MRC Centre for Regenerative MedicineThe University of Edinburgh Edinburgh BioQuarter, Edinburgh, UK
Role of RNA uridylation in germ line differentiation
(Host: A. Muro)
Post-transcriptional RNA modifications are knownto play a critical role in cellular differentiation.However, the physiological relevance of manyRNA modifications still remains unknown. Here,I will present the importance of 3’ terminaluridylation during mouse germline development,and other differentiation processes.
To study thefunction of uridylation in vivo, I used conditionalmutagenesis approaches where I remove UT4andTUT7(TUT4/7), thetwomainterminaluridylyl-transferases, during early embryogenesis and thelate stages of male and female gametogenesis.TUT4/7 can add non-templated 3’ Us to a numberof RNA species such as miRNAs, piRNA and mRNAin many different tissues. However, TUT4/7 activityis only essential during specific stages of cellulardifferentiation. This work contributes to our betterunderstanding of the role of RNA modifications, inparticular, uridylation, in mammalian physiology.