Proteins with in vivo RNA Chaperone Activity

The discovery of the catalytic function of RNA was only the beginning of a series of unexpected discoveries. RNA is involved in all relevant biological processes: chromatin modelling, transcription, gene silencing, replication, development, translation and cell death. While this functional diversity has encouraged the postulation of an RNA- world, RNA requires the intimate contact with proteins to carry out its functions and to attain structure in vivo. Studying RNA function and structure is a world-wide effort. High-resolution crystal structures of functional RNAs are invading the scientific journals in the past 5 years. The number of new functional RNAs is also rapidly increasing. What is hampering our understanding is the lack of knowledge on the effect of proteins on RNA folding, on RNA stability, on RNA processing and on RNA transport. In the past ten years, RNA research has been established at the Vienna BioCenter. The groups work in different biological systems and on different aspects of RNA function. Common efforts resulted in the establishment of the Special Research Program on "Modulators of RNA Fate and Function". This "RNA network" includes three different research topics: "Proteins involved in RNA folding and translation" Common and different features of RNA folding proteins are being studied. Other studies include the affect(s) of RNA re-folding on translation. "Proteins involved in RNA transport and stability" Research efforts in this area include studies on the interaction of enzymes (RNA degrading and editing enzymes) with their substrate RNA and a search for auxiliary factors which affect this interaction. "Proteins involved in RNA processing in the nucleus and in mitochondria" This work is centered around splicing factors and their interaction with pre-mRNA.