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Science 1 May 1998:
Vol. 280. no. 5364, pp. 696 - 697
DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5364.696
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Research Commentaries

BIOMEDICINE:
Triplet-Repeat Transcripts: A Role for RNA in Disease

Robert H. Singer

A group of baffling diseases, including myotonic dystrophy and Huntington's disease, are caused by expansion of a triplet nucleotide sequence within certain genes in successive generations. A report in this week's issue indicates a likely mechanism by which these repeated sequences alter cell physiology in myotonic dystrophy. In his commentary, Singer outlines the new results--that the excess repeats may inappropriately bind a splicing factor necessary for proper expression of muscle proteins--and discusses the possible application of these findings to other triplet-repeat diseases.

The author is in the Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology and Cell Biology, Institute for Molecular Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA. E-mail: rhsinger{at}aecom.yu.edu

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