Selection of Putative Iron-responsive Elements by Iron Regulatory Protein-2

Iron regulatory proteins (IRPs) 1 and 2 bind with equally high affinity to specific RNA stem-loop sequences known as iron-responsive elements (IRE) which mediate the post-transcriptional regulation of many genes of iron metabolism. To study putative IRE-like sequences in RNA transcripts using the IRP-IRE interaction, Eight known genes from database were selected and the RNA binding activity of IRE-like sequences were compared to IRP-2. Among them, the IRE-like sequence in 3'-untranslational region (UTR) of divalent ration transporter-1 (DCT-1) shows a significant RNA binding affinity. This finding predicts that IRE consensus sequence present within 3'-UTR of DCT-1 might confer the regulation by IRP-2.