The paper shows that long 3'UTR isoforms in neurons are less efficiently translated than short ones, mediated by ELAV and Pumilio, and that disrupting this mechanism reduces viability and stress resilience.

bioRxiv · Jul 9, 2026 · PreprintMolecular Biology

Pumilio differentially binds to mRNA 3' UTR isoforms to regulate localization of synaptic proteins

Dominika Grzejda, Anton Hess, Andrew Rezansoff, Sakshi Gorey, Judit Carrasco, Carlos Alfonso-Gonzalez, Stylianos Tsagkris, Lena Neuhaus, Mengjin Shi, Hasan Can Ozbulut, F.‐Nora Vögtle, Andreas Vlachos, Valérie Hilgers

This study shows Pumilio binds different mRNA 3' UTR isoforms to regulate synaptic protein localization in Drosophila neurons.

EMBO Reports · Feb 21, 2025Peer-reviewedGenomics

ELAV mediates circular RNA biogenesis in neurons

Carlos Alfonso-Gonzalez, Mengjin Shi, Sakshi Gorey, Sarah Holec, Judit Carrasco, Michael Rauer, Stylianos Tsagkris, Fernando Mateos, Valérie Hilgers

This study shows ELAV regulates neuronal circRNA production by modulating splicing to favor circularization over linear splicing.

bioRxiv · Jun 22, 2024Molecular Biology

Repression of the Hox gene abd-A by ELAV-mediated Transcriptional Interference

Javier J. Castro Alvarez, Maxime Revel, Judit Carrasco, Fabienne Cléard, Daniel Pauli, Valérie Hilgers, François Karch, Robert K. Maeda

The paper shows that the iab-8 ncRNA represses downstream genes in the CNS via ELAV-mediated transcriptional interference, with CNS specificity achieved through a 3' extension of the transcript.

PLoS Genetics · Nov 15, 2021Peer-reviewedGenetics