Description:

The Department of Pharmacology welcomes you to seize this educational opportunity! We are pleased to welcome Dr. Christopher W. Gomez, M.D., Ph.D., Albina Y. Surbis, Professor & Chair, Department of Neurology, University of Chicago.

The following, is an overview of this seminar, as described by Dr. Gomez:

"We have discovered that the P/Q-type voltage-gated Ca2+ channel (VGCC) gene, CACNA1A, is a bicistronic cellular gene, i.e, encodes two structurally unrelated proteins, with distinct functions, that are separately encoded within the same mRNA. CACNA1A encodes both the 1A (Cav2.1) subunit and a newly recognized transcription factor, 1ACT, within an overlapping open reading frame (ORF) within the same mRNA transcript. This is achieved by the presence of a novel internal ribosomal entry site (IRES) upstream of a second ORF encoding 1ACT. Although this is the first convincing evidence for a truly bicistronic gene in eukaryotes, there is evidence that other genes, including additional VGCC family genes, employ IRESs to encode separate gene regulatory proteins. We propose that bicistronic cellular genes represent a previously unrecognized, strategy for coordinated gene expression in vertebrates. Understanding the impact of bicistronic genes has particular relevance to developmental and neurobehavioral disorders, as mutations in most of these genes are associated with pervasive developmental or neuropsychiatric disorders, and may alter expression of either or both ORFs."