Senior Research Officer
Division of Parasitology
Dept. of Microbiology
National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases
Indian Council of Medical Research
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
The knowledge of pre-rRNA processing machinery in bacteria, yeast and higher mammals including humans is well established. In protozoa especially Giardia, nothing is known regarding the formation of rRNAs from the pre-rRNAs. The presence of small nuclear RNAs and the protein, Fibrillarin suggest that the pre-rRNA processing in Giardia may be like that of eukaryotes.
RNA-protein interaction studies have shown that Giardia fibrillarin interacts with different snRNAs. This is the first demonstration of interaction of snRNAs with Fibrillarin in Giardia lamblia for ribonucleoprotein particle formation.
Lack of any established gene transfer system in Giardia prevents in vivo studies on pre-rRNA processing. So in vitro studies had to be done using cloned genes. We are aiming FRET using antisense molecular beacon in G. lamblia for RNA protein interaction establishment which can be very useful for further studies in RNP formation and interaction of nucleic acids in vivo as staining of such a FRET candidate is very difficult due to lack of any specific RNA dyes.
