Regulation of ELAV/Hu RNA-binding proteins by phosphorylation

ELAV (embryonic lethal/abnormal visual system)/Hu proteins comprise a family of highly related neuronal RBPs (RNA-binding proteins) involved in many aspects of mRNA processing. Although they bind to highly similar short sequence motifs, they have acquired diverse functions suggesting that cellular signalling is important for their functional diversification. Indeed, ELAV/Hu proteins harbour many phosphorylatable amino acids. In the present article, we review our current knowledge about phosphorylation of ELAV/Hu proteins and how phosphorylation affects cellular localization of ELAV/Hu proteins and their binding to RNA.