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Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry (2021) 476:4493–4505
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-021-04256-5
RNA binding motif 47 (RBM47): emerging roles invertebrate
development, RNA editing andcancer
PavanKumarMysuruShivalingappa1· VaishaliSharma1· AnjaliShiras1· SharmilaA.Bapat1
Received: 25 May 2021 / Accepted: 31 August 2021 / Published online: 9 September 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2021
Abstract
RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are critical players in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and are associated
with each event in RNA metabolism. The term ‘RNA-binding motif’ (RBM) is assigned to novel RBPs with one or more
RNA recognition motif (RRM) domains that are mainly involved in the nuclear processing of RNAs. RBM47 is a novel
RBP conserved in vertebrates with three RRM domains whose contributions to various aspects of cellular functions are as
yet emerging. Loss of RBM47 function affects head morphogenesis in zebrafish embryos and leads to perinatal lethality in
mouse embryos, thereby assigning it to be an essential gene in early development of vertebrates. Its function as an essential
cofactor for APOBEC1 in C to U RNA editing of several targets through substitution for A1CF in the A1CF-APOBEC1
editosome, established a new paradigm in the field. Recent advances in the understanding of its involvement in cancer
progression assigned RBM47 to be a tumor suppressor that acts by inhibiting EMT and Wnt/
β
-catenin signaling through
post-transcriptional regulation. RBM47 is also required to maintain immune homeostasis, which adds another facet to its
regulatory role in cellular functions. Here, we review the emerging roles of RBM47 in various biological contexts and discuss
the current gaps in our knowledge alongside future perspectives for the field.
Keywords RNA-binding motif 47 (RBM47)· C to U RNA editing· Embryonic development· Cancer· EMT· Wnt/β-
catenin signaling
Introduction
Gene expression is a core cellular process regulated at mul-
tiple levels. Post-transcriptional gene regulation (PTGR), an
essential mechanism in the maintenance of cellular homeo-
stasis, controls all aspects of coding and non-coding RNAs
including co-transcriptional processing, maturation, quality
control, transport, localization, function and turn over [1].
RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are the main players orches-
trating PTGR events through assembly with RNA molecules
in ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes, which are dynamic
structures that constantly change in a context-dependent
manner [2, 3]. Of the ~ 1542 RBPs encoded by the human
genome, 692 are associated with mRNP complexes that rep-
resent a highly efficient way of regulating gene expression
[3, 4]. An RBP recognizes and binds to specific sequences
and/or structural motifs in its target RNA through RNA
binding domains (RBD), prototyped by the RNA recogni-
tion motif (RRM); others include arginine-glycine-glycine
(RGG) repeats, heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP)
K-homology domain (KH), C3H1 zinc finger (Zf-CCCH)
domain and DEAD-box helicase domain [1, 2, 5]. The
contribution of RBPs in cell fate decisions through regula-
tion of translation, stability, and turnover of target RNAs is
well-established, further discoveries of non-coding RNAs
(microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs) in RNP complexes
revealed functional crosstalk between RBP-RNA molecules
[2]. While a set of RRM domain-containing RBPs called
RNA-Binding Motif proteins (RBM; term approved by the
HUGO gene nomenclature committee) [6] were primarily
identified to be involved in nuclear RNA processing, and are
now recognized to also perform critical roles in the regula-
tion of a wide range of cellular and physiological processes
[7, 8]. The first described RBM genes were YRRM1 and
YRRM2 (located on the Y chromosome and now designated
as RBMY), the deletions of which were implicated in male
infertility [9]. 56 human genes that include ‘RBM’ either in
* Sharmila A. Bapat
sabapat@nccs.res.in
1 National Centre forCell Science, Savitribai Phule Pune
University, Ganeshkhind, Pune411007, India
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