An amino acid sequence motif sufficient for subnuclear localization of an arginine/serine-rich splicing factor. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • We have identified an amino acid sequence in the Drosophila Transformer (Tra) protein that is capable of directing a heterologous protein to nuclear speckles, regions of the nucleus previously shown to contain high concentrations of spliceosomal small nuclear RNAs and splicing factors. This sequence contains a nucleoplasmin-like bipartite nuclear localization signal (NLS) and a repeating arginine/serine (RS) dipeptide sequence adjacent to a short stretch of basic amino acids. Sequence comparisons from a number of other splicing factors that colocalize to nuclear speckles reveal the presence of one or more copies of this motif. We propose a two-step subnuclear localization mechanism for splicing factors. The first step is transport across the nuclear envelope via the nucleoplasmin-like NLS, while the second step is association with components in the speckled domain via the RS dipeptide sequence.

published proceedings

  • Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

altmetric score

  • 9

author list (cited authors)

  • Hedley, M. L., Amrein, H., & Maniatis, T.

citation count

  • 130

complete list of authors

  • Hedley, ML||Amrein, H||Maniatis, T

publication date

  • December 1995