2011 年 33 巻 3 号 p. 79-80
As is well known to JEMS members, various endogenous and environmental factors cause mutations in DNA. Transcription of mutated genes then produces aberrant RNA molecules. However, cells have quality control systems for RNA, which degrade these aberrant RNA molecules. Recent studies have begun to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of this RNA surveillance system. At the 39th annual meeting of the Japanese Environmental Mutagen Society (JEMS) held in Tsukuba city on November 16 and 17, 2010, the author organized a symposium that focused on the fate of mutations in the flow of genetic information from genes to proteins through RNA. At the symposium, four young scientists presented their studies on transcriptional mutagenesis, the quality control systems for rRNA and mRNA and template-independent RNA polymerization.
