Cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor

Cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF) is involved in the cleavage of the 3' signaling region from a newly synthesized pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) molecule in the process of gene transcription. It is the first protein to bind to the signaling region near the cleavage site of the pre-mRNA, to which the poly(A) tail will be added by polynucleotide adenylyltransferase. The upstream signaling region has the canonical nucleotide sequence AAUAAA, which is highly conserved across the vast majority of pre-mRNAs. A second downstream signaling region, located on the portion of the pre-mRNA that is cleaved before polyadenylation, consists of a GU-rich region required for efficient processing.