During the course of the more than thirty years since the La protein (a.k.a., La antigen, La autoantigen) was first described as a factor bound to a variety of RNAs, many researchers have worked on it (there are 255 PubMed entries for “La protein”, 127 for “La antigen” and 83 for “La autoantigen”). With the advent of genome sequencing and other approaches, it has become apparent that distinct lineages of La-related proteins, designated LARP1, LARP4, LARP6, LARP7, etc. have evolved during eukaryotic evolution, and the pace of studies on these in various model organisms has been increasing. Collectively, the LARPs appear to be involved in multiple aspects of RNA biology. Recent reports suggest that the functions of La and LARPs are relevant to medecine and agronomy. To keep up with the pace of research in this rapidly evolving area, the LARP Society has been designed as a forum for sharing news and other information, through its website and regular conferences.
If you are willing to contribute by posting comments, articles, tools and protocols etc… please email at (Mark Bayfield <bayfield@yorku.ca>, Cécile Antonelli <cecile.antonelli@univ-perp.fr> or Sasi CONTE <sasi.conte@kcl.ac.uk>)
We wish you a warm welcome and hope you will enjoy being part of the LARP society.
Richard J. Maraia (President) and the LARP Society officers.
