Publications by authors named "Jessica R Petree"

Antiretroviral therapy extends survival but does not eliminate HIV from its cellular reservoirs. Between immune and stromal cells in the tissue microenvironment, a dynamic intercellular communication might influence host viral immune responses via intercellular transfer of extracellular vehicles (EVs) (microvesicles, exosome, or apoptotic bodies). It is increasingly recognized that HIV-infected macrophage-secreted nucleotide-rich exosomes might play a critical role in mediating communication between macrophages and other structural cells; however, molecular mechanisms underlying cell-cell crosstalk remain unknown.

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Modifying RNA through either splicing or editing is a fundamental biological process for creating protein diversity from the same genetic code. Developing novel chemical biology tools for RNA editing has potential to transiently edit genes and to provide a better understanding of RNA biochemistry. Current techniques used to modify RNA include the use of ribozymes, adenosine deaminase, and tRNA endonucleases.

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We demonstrate here for the first time that proline tRNA 3' end maturation in Escherichia coli employs a one-step endonucleolytic pathway that does not involve any of the six 3' → 5' exonucleases (RNase T, RNase PH, RNase D, RNase BN, RNase II and polynucleotide phosphorylase [PNPase]) to generate the mature CCA terminus. Rather, RNase E is primarily responsible for the endonucleolytic removal of the entire Rho-independent transcription terminator associated with the proK, proL and proM primary transcripts by cleaving immediately downstream of the CCA determinant. In the absence of RNase E, RNase G and RNase Z are weakly able to process the proK and proM transcripts, while PNPase and RNase P are utilized in the processing of proL The terminator fragment derived from the endonucleolytic cleavage of proL transcript is degraded through a PNPase-dependent pathway.

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