The steroid receptor RNA activator is the first functional RNA encoding a protein

S. Chooniedass-Kothari , E. Emberley , M.K. K Hamedani , S. Troup , X. Wang (1) , A. Czosnek , F. Hube (2) , M. Mutawe , P.H. H Watson , E. Leygue

1 Key Laboratory of Genome Science and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics
2 UPD7 - Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7

The steroid receptor RNA activator (SRA) has previously been characterized as belonging to the growing family of functional non-coding RNAs. However, we recently reported the Western blot detection of a putative endogenous SRA protein (SRAP) in breast cancer cells. Herein, we successfully suppressed the expression of this protein through specific RNA interference assay, unequivocally confirming its existence. Moreover, using database searches and Western blot analysis, we also showed that SRAP is highly conserved among chordata. Overall, our results suggest that SRA is the first example of a new class of functional RNAs also able to encode a protein.

Keywords: Steroid receptor RNA activator; Non-coding RNA; RNA interference; Steroid receptor RNA activator homologue; Steroid receptor RNA activator protein

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]

S. Chooniedass-Kothari, E. Emberley, M.K. K Hamedani, S. Troup, X. Wang, et al.. The steroid receptor RNA activator is the first functional RNA encoding a protein. FEBS Letters, 2004, 566 (1-3), pp.43-47. ⟨10.1016/j.febslet.2004.03.104⟩. ⟨hal-02127389⟩