Disease relevance of PRKRA

• In addition, reduced RAX expression facilitates productive viral infection with vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and promotes anchorage-independent colony growth of MEF cells [1].
• As the Southern Cone Initiative proceeds steadily towards eradication of Triatoma infestans, there is increasing interest in applying similar approaches to control Chagas disease vectors in Mexico, Central America and countries of the Andean Pact [2].

High impact information on PRKRA

• Chernobyl. Pact for nuclear accidents [3].
• The most notable phenotypes of the Pact(-/-) mouse were reduced size and severe microtia [4].
• RAX, the PKR activator, sensitizes cells to inflammatory cytokines, serum withdrawal, chemotherapy, and viral infection [1].
• Serine 18 phosphorylation of RAX, the PKR activator, is required for PKR activation and consequent translation inhibition [5].
• Now we have discovered that RAX is phosphorylated on serine 18 in both human and mouse cells [5].

Biological context of PRKRA

• Mutational analysis reveals that the dsRNA-binding domains of RAX are required for the gene expression enhancing function [6].
• RAX augments SV40 regulatory element-dependent DNA replication and transcription [6].
• Previous reports demonstrate that following stress, RAX/PACT associates with and activates PKR resulting in eIF2alpha phosphorylation, consequent translation inhibition, and cell death via apoptosis [5].
• Although RAX/PACT is phosphorylated during stress, any regulatory role for this post-translational modification has been uncertain [5].
• Our previous studies indicated that the nucleotide sequence encoding PRKRA, which appeared to be an intronless gene, was present in PAC HS265J14 containing the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DR subregion [7].

Anatomical context of PRKRA

• In this study, we further investigated and characterized the PRKRA gene on the human genome by means of Southern blotting and polymerase chain reaction with homozygous typing cell lines for HLA genes [7].

Associations of PRKRA with chemical compounds

• The dye was detected simultaneously at 292 and 592 nm using methylene violet 3 RAX as internal standard [8].

Physical interactions of PRKRA

• PKR activation requires binding of double-stranded RNA or PACT/RAX proteins to its regulatory domain [9].

Regulatory relationships of PRKRA

• The double-stranded (ds) RNA-binding protein RAX was discovered as a stress-induced cellular activator of the dsRNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR), a key regulator of protein synthesis in response to viral infection and cellular stress [6].

Other interactions of PRKRA

• We now report a novel function of RAX, independent of PKR, to enhance SV40 promoter (origin)/enhancer-dependent gene expression [6].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of PRKRA

• Consistently, fluorescence in situ hybridization profiles with PRKRA as a probe showed that the hybridization signal on Chromosome (Chr) 6p21.3 was seen only in the samples carrying the DR haplotypes that belonged to the DR53 group [7].

References