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Poly(A) RNA a new component of Cajal bodies

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Abstract

In European larch microsporocytes, spherical structures 0.5 to 6 μm in diameter are present in which poly(A) RNA accumulates. There were one to several bodies per cell and they were often present in the vicinity of the nucleolus. No nascent transcripts were observed within them. Splicing factors of the SR family, including protein SC35, which participates in bringing the 3′ and 5′ sites closer in the splicing reaction, were also not observed. The absence of the above-mentioned elements within bodies containing poly(A) RNA disqualifies them as sites of synthesis and preliminary stages of primary transcript maturation. However, they contained abundant elements of the splicing machinery commonly occurring in Cajal bodies, i.e., Sm proteins or small nuclear RNA (snRNA). The molecular composition as well as the characteristic ultrastructure of bodies containing poly(A) RNA proves that these were Cajal bodies. This is the first report of such poly(A) RNA localization.

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Acknowledgments

We thank J. Niedojadło for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by a UMK Grant (project 321-B) and by the grant of Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education no. N303 290434.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell Biology, Institute of General and Molecular Biology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Gagarina 9, Toruń, 87-100, Poland

    Agnieszka Kołowerzo, Dariusz Jan Smoliński & Elżbieta Bednarska

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  1. Agnieszka Kołowerzo
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  2. Dariusz Jan Smoliński
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  3. Elżbieta Bednarska
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Correspondence to Dariusz Jan Smoliński.

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Fig. S1

Immunogold localization of poly(A) RNA in larch microsporocyte nuclei. Several clusters of interchromatin granules (IG) labeled with gold grains occur mainly in the form of single or double grains. In the surrounding nucleoplasm, the labeling is clearly much weaker. Bar 0.5 μm. Fig. S2 a–e. Control reactions performed with omission of the primary antibodies against : BrU-RNA (a), SC35 protein (b), Sm proteins (c), m3G snRNA (d), and control hybridization with the sense-labeled probes to: poly(A) RNA (a–e) and U2 snRNA (e). No labeling in the microsporocytes were observed (nuclear area marked with dashed line). Bars: 10 μm. f Control reaction for in situ hybridization with the sense-labeled probe to poly(A) RNA on electron microscopy level. No labeling or only a few gold particles are visible. Bar: 1 μm (GIF 202 kb)

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Kołowerzo, A., Smoliński, D.J. & Bednarska, E. Poly(A) RNA a new component of Cajal bodies. Protoplasma 236, 13–19 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-009-0042-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-009-0042-y

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