The P.I. plans to study the splicing of pre mRNAs carried out by HeLa nuclear preparations. This project will focus on the separation and charaterization of proteins and the U-rich RNAs that are involved in this process. He will continue to study the interaction of SnRNPs with pre-mRNA as well as auxiliary activities that are directly involved in splicing or contribute to the specificity of this system. He specifically plans to examine the synthesis of SnRNPs from RNA and proteins that constitute these particles. For this purpose, he plans to use labeled RNAs snythesized from cloned DNA sequences that code for the U-rich RNAs. The proteins that interact with these RNAs will also be isolated from HeLa cells. The goal of this approach is to reconstitute SnRNPs and to study their role in the splicing of pre-mRNAs in higher eukaryotes. The P.I. also proposes to examine the replication of bovine papilloma virus with the goal of determining how the replication of this DNA is regulated by the host cell cycle. He has initiated studies on the replication of this DNA by cell-free extracts from mouse cells carrrying a BPV plasmid. Significance: In recent years it has been learned that ribonucleic acid (RNA) as well as proteins can act as catalysts (enzymes) of metabolic reactions. In the former case the reactions catalyzed have been restricted to those splicing out pieces of the RNA transcipts from gene to form a "messenger" RNA of reduced size. The applicant proposes to continue his studies of the mechanism by which these RNA catalyzst are put together.
