Investigating the effects of altered RNA editing on cellular function

RNA editing is a process that occurs naturally in certain RNA transcripts where base alterations are made at specific sites (Behm and Ohman, 2016). RNA-seq has revealed millions of these events within the transcriptome and a number of these occur within the coding regions of important neuronal targets (such as the AMPAR GluA2 subunit and 5-HTC receptor subunit) (Tan et al. 2017). Furthermore, dysregulated RNA editing has been linked to a number of neurological diseases, but the precise molecular and cellular consequences of altered RNA editing activity are poorly understood. Recently we have developed a number of phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PMO) tools to manipulate RNA editing (Chaytow et al. 2021) and the aim of the project would be to use these tools to investigate the impact of altered RNA editing on downstream cellular processes in greater detail. The project will predominantly utilise techniques in molecular biology, RT-PCR, tissue culture, transient cell transfection. However, it may incorporate other techniques such as Western blotting, immunocytochemistry and cell imaging depending on the outcomes of the investigations.