简介：Heterogeneousnuclearribonucleoproteins(hnRNPs)arespliceosomalmacromolecularassemblagesandthusactivelyparticipateinpre-mRNAmetabolism.Theyarecomposedofevolutionarilyconservedandtandemlyrepeatedmotifs,wherebothRNA-bindingandprotein-proteinrecognitionoccurtoachievecellularactivities.Byyetunknownmechanisms,theseribonucleoprotein(RNP)particlesaretargetedbyautoantibodiesandhenceplaysignificantroleinavarietyofhumansystemicautoimmunediseases.Thisfeaturemakesthemimportantprognosticmarkersintermsofmolecularepidemiologyandpathogenesisofautoimmunity.SinceRNPdomainisoneofthemostconservedandwidespreadscaffolds,evolutionalysesoftheseRNA-bindingdomainscanprovidefurthercluesondisease-specificepitopeformation.ThestudypresentedhereinrepresentsasequencecomparisonofRNA-recognitionregionsofrecentlyclonedandcharacterizedhumanhnRNPA3withthoseofotherrelevanthnRNPA/B-typeproteins.Theirimplicationsinhumanautoimmunityareparticularlyemphasized.