TUC338 (original) (raw)

TUC338 (transcribed ultra-conserved region 338) is an ultra-conserved element which is transcribed to give a non-coding RNA. The TUC338 gene was first identified as uc.338, along with 480 other ultra-conserved elements in the human genome. Expression of this RNA gene has been found to dramatically increase in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. The TUC338 RNA gene is 590 base-pairs long, and partially overlaps the gene encoding Poly(rC)-binding protein 2 (PCBP2), a protein involved in mRNA processing. Despite this overlap, PCBP2 and TUC388 were found to be independently expressed.