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Researchers pinpoint a small RNA that spurs cells to manufacture a particular splice variant of a key neuronal protein, potentially promoting Alzheimer's disease (AD) or other types of neurodegeneration. Like a movie with an alternate ending, a protein can come in more than one version. Although scientists have identified numerous proteins and RNAs that influence alternative splicing, they haven't deciphered how cells fine-tune the process to produce specific protein versions. Four years ago, researchers identified a set of 30 small, noncoding RNAs that they suspected help regulate gene expression.
Italian researchers have now determined the function of one of the RNA snippets, known as 38A, that hails from a noncoding part of the gene that encodes the protein KCNIP4. KCNIP4 helps ensure that neurons fire impulses in a characteristic slow, repeating pattern. The researchers found that 38A spurs cells to produce an alternative splice variant of KCNIP4, Var IV, that disrupts this current, potentially leading to neurodegeneration. Continue to read: sciencedaily.com 
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