BC1 RNA motifs required for dendritic transport in vivo

BC1 RNA is a small brain specific non-protein coding RNA. It is transported from the cell body into dendrites where it is involved in the fine-tuning translational control. Due to its compactness and established secondary structure, BC1 RNA is an ideal model for investigating the motifs necessary for dendritic localization. Previously, microinjection of in vitro transcribed BC1 RNA mutants into the soma of cultured primary neurons suggested the importance of RNA motifs for dendritic targeting. These ex vivo experiments identified a single bulged nucleotide (U(22)) and a putative K-turn (GA motif) structure required for dendritic localization or distal transport, respectively. We generated six transgenic mouse lines (three founders each) containing neuronally expressing BC1 RNA variants on a BC1 RNA knockout mouse background. In contrast to ex vivo data, we did not find indications of reduction or abolition of dendritic BC1 RNA localization in the mutants devoid of the GA motif or the bulged nucleotide. We confirmed the ex vivo data, which showed that the triloop terminal sequence had no consequence on dendritic transport. Interestingly, changing the triloop supporting structure completely abolished dendritic localization of BC1 RNA. We propose a novel RNA motif important for dendritic transport in vivo.