Publications by authors named "Manon Torres"

Paraspeckles are nuclear membraneless structures composed of a long non-coding RNA, Nuclear-Enriched-Abundant-Transcript-1, and RNA-binding proteins, which associate with numerous mRNAs. It is therefore believed that their cellular function is to sequester in the nucleus their associated proteins and/or target mRNAs. However, little is known about the molecular determinant in mRNA targets that allows their association to paraspeckles, except that inverted repeats of Alu sequences (IRAlu) present in the 3'UTR of mRNAs may allow this association.

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Circadian clocks (∼24 h) are responsible for daily physiological, metabolic, and behavioral changes. Central to these oscillations is the regulation of gene transcription. Previous research has identified clock protein complexes that interact with the transcriptional machinery to orchestrate circadian transcription, but technological constraints have limited the identification of de novo proteins.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are sequences longer than 200 nucleotides that play a role in regulating gene expression, although many of their functions are still not fully understood; estimates suggest humans have over 10,000 of these transcripts.
  • - These lncRNAs interact with other RNAs, influencing processes at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional stages, which necessitates methods to identify these associated RNAs.
  • - A new protocol has been developed, involving the design of specific anti-sense DNA probes and optimal fixative conditions, to effectively isolate and analyze RNAs associated with lncRNAs, enhancing our understanding of their RNA interactome through high throughput sequencing.
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The circadian clock drives daily rhythms of multiple physiological processes, allowing organisms to anticipate and adjust to periodic changes in environmental conditions. These physiological rhythms are associated with robust oscillations in the expression of at least 30% of expressed genes. While the ability for the endogenous timekeeping system to generate a 24-hr cycle is a cell-autonomous mechanism based on negative autoregulatory feedback loops of transcription and translation involving core-clock genes and their protein products, it is now increasingly evident that additional mechanisms also govern the circadian oscillations of clock-controlled genes.

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You are what you eat; but when you eat also seems to be important for a healthy metabolism. In this issue of Cell Metabolism, Benegiamo et al. (2018) uncover a mechanism by which the RNA-binding protein NONO promotes the time-of-day-dependent expression of key metabolic genes at a post-transcriptional level in response to nutrition.

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Article Synopsis
  • Circadian clocks regulate gene expression through mRNA changes, largely influenced by post-transcriptional mechanisms.
  • Researchers discovered that paraspeckles, which contain long noncoding RNA Neat1 and specific proteins, exhibit circadian patterns in pituitary cells.
  • Disruption of paraspeckles impairs the circadian rhythm of mRNA, revealing their crucial role in maintaining rhythmic gene expression.
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Paraspeckles are nuclear bodies form around the long non-coding RNA, Neat1, and RNA-binding proteins. While their role is not fully understood, they are believed to control gene expression at a post-transcriptional level by means of the nuclear retention of mRNA containing in their 3'-UTR inverted repeats of Alu sequences (IRAlu). In this study, we found that, in pituitary cells, all components of paraspeckles including four major proteins and Neat1 displayed a circadian expression pattern.

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