Ribonuclease P/MRP 14kDa Subunit (RPP14)

Ribonuclease P removes the 5-prime leader sequences from precursor tRNA molecules. RNase P consists of an RNA species (H1 RNA), the POP1 protein, and at least 7 proteins called RPPs.

Patients with scleroderma have serum reactive with RNase P, the Th antigen, which is also referred to as the To antigen, and RPP30 and RPP38.By biochemical purification of RNase P, micropeptide sequence analysis, and EST database searching, Jarrous et al. (1999) obtained a cDNA encoding RPP14. The deduced basic protein has 124 amino acids and a predicted molecular mass of nearly 14 kD. Immunoblot analysis showed that antibodies to RPP14 or RPP29 precipitate native RNase P.