# Structural and functional roles of the microprotein NoBody in mRNA decapping and decay

> **NIH NIH R01** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $324,838

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
This project describes the discovery and characterization of a novel human microprotein that functions in
cellular RNA decay. RNA decay, or turnover, is a critical mechanism of post-transcriptional gene expression
regulation, degrading not only normal cellular RNA at the end of its lifetime, but also disease-related mRNAs
that are degraded to prevent production of toxic, mutant proteins. Our novel polypeptide, which we term
NoBody for “non-annotated P-body associated polypeptide”, is translated from a long non-coding RNA.
NoBody is only 7 kDa in size, and is intrinsically disordered. Despite its lack of structure, NoBody is highly
conserved in mammals, and we show that it specifically interacts with proteins involved in the first step of a key
RNA turnover pathway – mRNA decapping – and that it is linked to the abundances of hundreds of cellular
transcripts. We propose to elucidate the biochemical function and structure of this microprotein in complex with
mRNA decapping proteins, as well as the genes and biological processes that are under its control. The
significance of this proposal is that we will reveal an entirely novel mechanism of regulation of mRNA decay –
modulation of mRNA decapping by a previously unknown microprotein. More broadly, this work will
demonstrate that innovative, proteomics-based platforms for new gene discovery have the potential to reveal
new molecular players in important cellular processes and disease.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10001040
- **Project number:** 5R01GM122984-04
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Sarah Ann Slavoff
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $324,838
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-06 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10001040

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10001040, Structural and functional roles of the microprotein NoBody in mRNA decapping and decay (5R01GM122984-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10001040. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*