G quadruplex structures in NEAT1: potential functions in regulating its stability and its interactions with the fused in sarcoma protein

Abstract

Paraspeckles are membraneless organelles found within mammalian nuclei comprised of RNA and proteins. The long non-coding RNA, nuclear enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1) has been shown to be essential for paraspeckles formation. NEAT1 has two isoforms, a short one of ∼3.7 kB (NEAT1_1) and a long one of ∼22.7 kB (NEAT1_2), and each paraspeckle may contain up to fifty NEAT1 RNAs. We and others identified five regions within NEAT1 that have the potential to form G-quadruplex structures (GQs), four of which are common to both isoforms and one found only in the long isoform NEAT1_2.