Small Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein Polypeptide A' (SNRPA1)

The A-prime polypeptide (SNRPA1) is one of the specific protein constituents of the U2 snRNP (small nuclear ribonucleoprotein) particle.Patients with connective tissue diseases often produce autoantibodies against snRNP particles. By screening a human teratocarcinoma cell expression library with anti-RNP sera, Sillekens et al. (1989) isolated a cDNA encoding SNRPA1. The predicted 255-amino acid protein has an apparent molecular mass of 28 kD by SDS-PAGE. Northern blot analysis indicated that the SRNPA1 gene is expressed as a 1.3-kb mRNA in HeLa cells.These 37 genes included several splicing factors for which knockdown generates mitotic spindle defects. In addition, a putative nuclear-export terminator was found to speed up cell proliferation and mitotic progression after knockdown.