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Ribosome stalling position, spacing, and A-site occupancy impact translation and cotranslational mRNA decay in plants.

Ribosomes can pause during mRNA translation, but what causes pausing, how pauses affect protein production, and whether they trigger cotranslational mRNA decay are poorly understood in plants. Here, we investigate the causes and consequences of ribosome pausing in Arabidopsis and maize. This is accomplished by sizing, mapping, and quantifying footprints of individual ribosomes (monosomes) and closely spaced ribosome pairs (disomes) at single-codon resolution on open reading frames (ORFs). Ribosome footprinting was combined with 5'P-degradome-seq to examine the coincidence of pausing with cotranslational decay under control conditions and brief hypoxia in Arabidopsis. The data resolve two monosome conformations and three disome configurations. These include monosomes with a vacant or occupied A-site and disomes that have collided or are separated by one or two codons. Pausing is prevalent at initiation, termination, and di-Proline codons. Di-Proline pauses do not trigger cotranslational decay but appear important in cotranslational protein processing. Brief hypoxia induces stalling of A-site vacant ribosomes at Aspartate codons, often coinciding with 5'P peaks, indicating that rate-limiting decoding can trigger cotranslational mRNA decay. Notably, actively transcribed and translated hypoxia-response mRNAs accumulate 1- to 2-codon-separated disomes and are actively degraded. Comparative analysis of footprints in the two species reveals ribosome conformations and codon-specific pausing can be conserved or lineage-specific, as exemplified by pausing at di-Prolines and on Conserved Peptide upstream ORFs. In sum, the stalling of ribosomes at specific codons, coupled with ribosome A-site occupancy and disome spacing, modulates protein production and cotranslational mRNA decay in plants.

Ribosomes↗

CYP3A5 mRNA degradation by nonsense-mediated mRNA decay.

The total CYP3A5 mRNA level is significantly greater in carriers of the CYP3A5*1 allele than in CYP3A5*3 homozygotes. Most of the CYP3A5*3 mRNA includes an intronic sequence (exon 3B) containing premature termination codons (PTCs) between exons 3 and 4. Two models were used to investigate the degradation of CYP3A5 mRNA: a CYP3A5 minigene consisting of CYP3A5 exons and introns 3 to 6 transfected into MCF7 cells, and the endogenous CYP3A5 gene expressed in HepG2 cells. The 3'-untranslated region g.31611C>T mutation has no effect on CYP3A5 mRNA decay. Splice variants containing exon 3B were more unstable than wild-type (wt) CYP3A5 mRNA. Cycloheximide prevents the recognition of PTCs by ribosomes: in transfected MCF7 and HepG2 cells, cycloheximide slowed down the degradation of exon 3B-containing splice variants, suggesting the participation of nonsense-mediated decay (NMD). When PTCs were removed from pseudoexon 3B or when UPF1 small interfering RNA was used to impair the NMD mechanism, the decay of the splice variant was reduced, confirming the involvement of NMD in the degradation of CYP3A5 splice variants. Induction could represent a source of variability for CYP3A5 expression and could modify the proportion of splice variants. The extent of CYP3A5 induction was investigated after exposure to barbiturates or steroids: CYP3A4 was markedly induced in a pediatric population compared with untreated neonates. However, no effect could be detected in either the total CYP3A5 RNA, the proportion of splice variant RNA, or the protein level. Therefore, in these carriers, induction is unlikely to switch on the phenotypic CYP3A5 expression in carriers of CYP3A5*3/*3.

Adult↗

A cell-free mRNA stability assay reveals conservation of the enzymes and mechanisms of mRNA decay between mosquito and mammalian cell lines.

The rate of mRNA turnover is an important determinant of levels of gene expression. Although this process has been studied extensively in mammalian cells and yeast, relatively little is known about the mRNA decay pathways in insects. Our analysis found that the vast majority of components of the mRNA decay machinery are conserved between humans and mosquitoes. Moreover, the half-lives of Aedes albopictus mRNAs are within a similar range to those of mammalian mRNAs. In order to investigate mechanistic aspects of mRNA decay in mosquitoes, we developed an in vitro system using cytoplasmic S100 extracts from A. albopictus C6/36 cells. Using this decay assay, we show here that all the pathways of mRNA turnover that have been observed in mammalian cells (deadenylation, decapping, 3'-to-5' exonucleolytic decay and 5'-to-3' exonucleolytic decay) are active in C6/36 extracts. Finally, we present compelling evidence that the major deadenylase in C6/36 extracts is likely to be a homolog of the human poly(A) specific ribonuclease, PARN. Our results suggest a high level of conservation in the factors and pathways of mRNA decay between mosquitoes and humans.

Aedes↗

[Progress on cis-acting regulatory elements in nonsense-mediated mRNA decay].

In eukaryotic cells, nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is an effective mRNA surveillance mechanism that detects and degrades mRNAs with premature termination codons ( PTC) and protects cells from the potentially deleterious effects of truncated proteins. Some cis-acting regulatory elements have been reported involving in NMD. They are PTC presence, PTC recongnation by downstream elements that termed as downstream sequence element (DSE) in yeast and primarily exon-exon junction ( EEJ) in mammalian cells, stabilizer sequence (STE) inactivation the NMD, and other sequences correlated with NMD such as extended poly (A) in 3' UTRs,upstream open reading frame (uORF) located in 5' UTR and programmed -1 ribosomal frameshift (-1 PRF). Progress on cis-acting regulatory elements in nonsense-mediated mRNA decay was reviewed in this paper.

Codon, Nonsense↗

Characterization of c-myc 3' to 5' mRNA decay activities in an in vitro system.

The levels of mRNA and protein encoded by the c-myc protooncogene set the balance between proliferation and differentiation of mammalian cells. Thus, it is essential for the cell to tightly control c-myc expression. Indeed, cells utilize many mechanisms to control c-myc expression, including transcription, RNA processing, translation, and protein stability. We have focused on turnover of c-myc mRNA as a key modulator of the timing and level of c-myc expression. c-myc mRNA is labile in cells, and its half-life is controlled by multiple instability elements located within both the coding region and the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR). Much work has focused on the protein factors that bind the instability elements, yet little is known about the enzymatic activities that effect the degradation of c-myc mRNA. Here I have utilized a novel cell-free mRNA decay system to characterize the c-myc mRNA decay machinery. This machinery consists of 3' to 5' mRNA decay activities that are Mg2+-dependent, require neither exogenous ATP/GTP nor an ATP-regenerating system, and act independently of a 7mG(5')ppp(5')G cap structure to deadenylate an exogenous mRNA substrate in a c-myc 3'-UTR-dependent fashion. Following deadenylation, nucleolytic decay of the 3'-UTR occurs generating 3' decay intermediates via a ribonucleolytic activity that can assemble on the c-myc 3'-UTR in a poly(A)-independent manner.

3' Untranslated Regions↗

Nonsense mutations in close proximity to the initiation codon fail to trigger full nonsense-mediated mRNA decay.

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a surveillance mechanism that degrades mRNAs containing premature translation termination codons. In mammalian cells, a termination codon is ordinarily recognized as "premature" if it is located greater than 50-54 nucleotides 5' to the final exon-exon junction. We have described a set of naturally occurring human beta-globin gene mutations that apparently contradict this rule. The corresponding beta-thalassemia genes contain nonsense mutations within exon 1, and yet their encoded mRNAs accumulate to levels approaching wild-type beta-globin (beta(WT)) mRNA. In the present report we demonstrate that the stabilities of these mRNAs with nonsense mutations in exon 1 are intermediate between beta(WT) mRNA and beta-globin mRNA carrying a prototype NMD-sensitive mutation in exon 2 (codon 39 nonsense; beta 39). Functional analyses of these mRNAs with 5'-proximal nonsense mutations demonstrate that their relative resistance to NMD does not reflect abnormal RNA splicing or translation re-initiation and is independent of promoter identity and erythroid specificity. Instead, the proximity of the nonsense codon to the translation initiation AUG constitutes a major determinant of NMD. Positioning a termination mutation at the 5' terminus of the coding region blunts mRNA destabilization, and this effect is dominant to the "50-54 nt boundary rule." These observations impact on current models of NMD.

Animals↗

Human SMG-1, a novel phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related protein kinase, associates with components of the mRNA surveillance complex and is involved in the regulation of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay.

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a conserved surveillance mechanism that eliminates imperfect mRNAs that contain premature translation termination codons (PTCs) and code for nonfunctional or potentially harmful polypeptides. We show that a novel phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related protein kinase, hSMG-1, is a human ortholog of a product of Caenorhabditis elegans smg-1, one of seven smg genes involved in NMD. hSMG-1 phosphorylates hUPF1/SMG-2 in vivo and in vitro at specific serine residues in SQ motifs. hSMG-1 can associate with hUPF1/SMG-2 and other components of the surveillance complex. In particular, overexpression of a kinase-deficient point mutant of hSMG-1, hSMG-1-DA, results in a marked suppression of the PTC-dependent beta-globin mRNA degradation; whereas that of wild-type hSMG-1 enhances it. We also show that inhibitors of hSMG-1 induce the accumulation of truncated p53 proteins in human cancer cell lines with p53 PTC mutation. Taken together, we conclude that hSMG-1 plays a critical role in NMD through the direct phosphorylation of hUPF1/SMG-2 in the evolutionally conserved mRNA surveillance complex.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

A chemiluminescence-based reporter system to monitor nonsense-mediated mRNA decay.

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a surveillance pathway that mediates rapid degradation of transcripts bearing premature translation termination codons (PTCs) and thereby limits the expression of unproductively processed mRNAs and the synthesis of C-terminally truncated peptides. Both its importance as a means to control gene expression and in the context of genetic and acquired human diseases call for an exploration of the mammalian NMD pathway using chemical biology approaches. Here, we describe a novel cell-based chemiluminescence reporter system that recapitulates the hallmark features of mammalian NMD. The assay is characterized by its high sensitivity, robustness, and its potential for automated handling. Limiting NMD efficiency by RNAi-mediated depletion of the essential NMD factor UPF1 markedly and specifically increased the NMD reporter mRNA level and resulted in a proportional increase in protein expression reflected by Renilla luminescence. The PI 3-kinase inhibitor wortmannin has previously been found to up-modulate PTC-containing transcripts by inhibiting the UPF1 kinase SMG1. Wortmannin treatment enhanced NMD reporter expression in our system in a dose-dependent way, illustrating its utility for small molecule screening.

Androstadienes↗

Ski7p G protein interacts with the exosome and the Ski complex for 3'-to-5' mRNA decay in yeast.

Two cytoplasmic mRNA-decay pathways have been characterized in yeast, and both are initiated by shortening of the 3'-poly(A) tail. In the major 5'-to-3' decay pathway, the deadenylation triggers removal of the 5'-cap, exposing the transcript body for 5'-to-3' degradation. An alternative 3'-to-5' decay pathway also follows the deadenylation and requires two multi-complexes: the exosome containing various 3'-exonucleases and the Ski complex consisting of the RNA helicase Ski2p, Ski3p and Ski8p. In addition, Ski7p, which has an N-terminal domain and a C-terminal elongation factor 1alpha-like GTP-binding domain, is involved in the 3'-to-5' decay. However, physical interaction between the exosome and the Ski complex, together with the function of Ski7p, has remained unknown. Here we report that the N domain of Ski7p is required and sufficient for the 3'-to-5' decay. Furthermore, the exosome and the Ski complex interact with the different regions of Ski7p N domain, and both interactions are required for the 3'-to-5' decay. Thus, Ski7p G protein appears to function as a signal-coupling factor between the two multi-complexes operating in the 3'-to-5' mRNA-decay pathway.

Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing↗

Role for Upf2p phosphorylation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae nonsense-mediated mRNA decay.

Premature termination (nonsense) codons trigger rapid mRNA decay by the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway. Two conserved proteins essential for NMD, UPF1 and UPF2, are phosphorylated in higher eukaryotes. The phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of UPF1 appear to be crucial for NMD, as blockade of either event in Caenorhabditis elegans and mammals largely prevents NMD. The universality of this phosphorylation/dephosphorylation cycle pathway has been questioned, however, because the well-studied Saccharomyces cerevisiae NMD pathway has not been shown to be regulated by phosphorylation. Here, we used in vitro and in vivo biochemical techniques to show that both S. cerevisiae Upf1p and Upf2p are phosphoproteins. We provide evidence that the phosphorylation of the N-terminal region of Upf2p is crucial for its interaction with Hrp1p, an RNA-binding protein that we previously showed is essential for NMD. We identify specific amino acids in Upf2p's N-terminal domain, including phosphorylated serines, which dictate both its interaction with Hrp1p and its ability to elicit NMD. Our results indicate that phosphorylation of UPF1 and UPF2 is a conserved event in eukaryotes and for the first time provide evidence that Upf2p phosphorylation is crucial for NMD.

Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing↗

Ribosome occupancy of the yeast CPA1 upstream open reading frame termination codon modulates nonsense-mediated mRNA decay.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae CPA1 mRNA contains an upstream open reading frame (uORF) encoding the arginine attenuator peptide (AAP). Negative translational regulation of CPA1 occurs when the nascent AAP responds to arginine (Arg) by stalling ribosomes at the uORF termination codon. CPA1 expression is also controlled by nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD). Using wild-type and decay-defective strains expressing CPA1-LUC, we determined how this uORF contributes to NMD control. Arg addition to media rapidly destabilized the CPA1 transcript in wild-type but not upf1delta cells. The wild-type uORF exerted translational control and induced NMD of CPA1-LUC; the mutated D13N uORF, which eliminates stalling and regulation, did not. Thus, regulation by NMD was not governed simply by ribosomes encountering the uORF terminator but appeared dependent on the AAP's ribosome-stalling ability. Improving the D13N uORF initiation context also promoted NMD. Hence, NMD appears to be triggered by increased ribosomal occupancy of the uORF termination codon.

Carbamoyl-Phosphate Synthase (Glutamine-Hydrolyzin↗

hUPF2 silencing identifies physiologic substrates of mammalian nonsense-mediated mRNA decay.

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a conserved eukaryotic surveillance pathway that selectively degrades aberrant mRNAs with premature termination codons (PTCs). Although a small number of cases exist in mammals, where NMD controls levels of physiologic PTC transcripts, it is still unclear whether the engagement of NMD in posttranscriptional control of gene expression is a more prevalent phenomenon. To identify physiologic NMD substrates and to study how NMD silencing affects the overall dynamics of a cell, we stably down-regulated hUPF2, the human homolog of the yeast NMD factor UPF2, by RNA interference. As expected, hUPF2-silenced HeLa cells were impaired in their ability to recognize ectopically expressed aberrant PTC transcripts. Surprisingly, hUPF2 silencing did not affect cell growth and viability but clearly diminished phosphorylation of hUPF1, suggesting a role of hUPF2 in modulating NMD activity through phosphorylation of hUPF1. Genome-wide DNA microarray expression profiling identified 37 novel up-regulated and 57 down-regulated transcripts in hUPF2-silenced cells. About 60% of the up-regulated mRNAs carry typical NMD motifs. Hence, NMD is important not only for maintaining the transcriptome integrity by removing nonfunctional and aberrant PTC-bearing transcripts but also for posttranscriptional control of selected physiologic transcripts with NMD features.

Base Sequence↗

Abnormally spliced beta-globin mRNAs: a single point mutation generates transcripts sensitive and insensitive to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay.

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) represents a phylogenetically widely conserved splicing- and translation-dependent mechanism that eliminates transcripts with premature translation stop codons and suppresses the accumulation of C-terminally truncated peptides. Elimination of frameshifted transcripts that result from faulty splicing may be an important function of NMD. To test this hypothesis directly, this study used the IVS1 + 5 G>A thalassemia mutation of the human beta-globin gene as a model system. We generated beta-globin gene constructs with this mutation and an iron-responsive element in the 5' untranslated region, which allowed specific experimental activation and inactivation of translation and, hence, NMD of this transcript. Premessenger RNAs with IVS1 + 5 G>A were spliced at normal sites and cryptic sites, enabling a direct comparison of the effect of NMD on the accumulation of normal and frameshifted messenger RNAs. In transfected HeLa cells, the predominant frameshifted transcript was degraded under conditions of active NMD, whereas accumulation to high levels occurred under conditions of specifically disabled NMD, thereby indicating an important physiologic function of NMD in the control of the splicing process. An unexpected finding was that accumulation of a second aberrant transcript remained unaffected by NMD. The IVS1 + 5 G>A mutation thus revealed the presence of an unknown cis-acting determinant that influences the NMD sensitivity of a putative NMD substrate. It can therefore serve as a useful tool for defining the mechanisms that permit specific transcripts to circumvent the NMD pathway.

Codon, Nonsense↗

Endonuclease-mediated mRNA decay involves the selective targeting of PMR1 to polyribosome-bound substrate mRNA.

PMR1 is a polysome-associated mRNA endonuclease that initiates the destabilization of albumin mRNA. The current study examined whether endonuclease-mediated mRNA decay involved the selective binding of PMR1 to substrate mRNA on polysomes. PMR1 is uniformly distributed throughout the cytoplasm on polysomes and in lighter complexes and does not colocalize in cytoplasmic foci with Dcp1. Deletion mutagenesis identified polysome-targeting domains in the N and C termini of PMR1, either of which could target GFP to polysomes. Selectivity in targeting to polysome-bound substrate mRNP was determined by testing the ability of full-length PMR1 or protein lacking targeting domains to recover albumin and luciferase mRNA from dissociated polysomes. Only PMR1 bearing intact polysome-targeting domains selectively recovered albumin mRNA, and polysome targeting of both protein and substrate was required for the efficient degradation of albumin mRNA. Thus, endonuclease-mediated mRNA decay occurs on a polysome-bound complex containing PMR1 and its substrate mRNA.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay: splicing, translation and mRNP dynamics.

Studies of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay in mammalian cells have proffered unforeseen insights into changes in mRNA-protein interactions throughout the lifetime of an mRNA. Remarkably, mRNA acquires a complex of proteins at each exon-exon junction during pre-mRNA splicing that influences the subsequent steps of mRNA translation and nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. Complex-loaded mRNA is thought to undergo a pioneer round of translation when still bound by cap-binding proteins CBP80 and CBP20 and poly(A)-binding protein 2. The acquisition and loss of mRNA-associated proteins accompanies the transition from the pioneer round to subsequent rounds of translation, and from translational competence to substrate for nonsense-mediated mRNA decay.

Animals↗

Microarray-based analyses of mRNA decay in the regulation of mammalian gene expression.

Mammalian cells coordinately regulate their gene expression programmes to ensure appropriate responses to stimuli. While transcriptional events provide an important level of gene expression regulation, modulation of messenger RNA (mRNA) decay provides an additional critical regulatory step. Much of the current knowledge of regulated mRNA decay comes from investigations of cytokine and other early response genes involved in inflammation and immunity. Recent genome-wide measurements of mRNA decay rates have revealed that a much broader repertoire of cellular transcripts are regulated at the level of mRNA decay, suggesting that mRNA decay plays a major role in regulating cellular function. Coupled with recent advances in understanding how signalling pathways impact on mRNA turnover, the regulation of mRNA decay emerges as an important post-transcriptional mechanism for rapidly regulating gene expression.

Animals↗

Endonuclease-mediated mRNA decay requires tyrosine phosphorylation of polysomal ribonuclease 1 (PMR1) for the targeting and degradation of polyribosome-bound substrate mRNA.

PMR1 is an endonuclease that is activated by estrogen to degrade Xenopus albumin mRNA. A previous report showed that the functional unit of endonuclease-mediated mRNA decay is a approximately 680-kDa polysome-bound complex that contains both PMR1 and substrate mRNA. PMR1 contains two domains involved in endonuclease targeting to polysomes, an N-terminal domain that lies between residues 200 and 250, and a C-terminal domain that lies within the last 100 residues. Loss of either domain inactivated PMR1 targeting to polysomes and stabilized albumin mRNA. The current study identified a phosphorylated tyrosine residue within the C-terminal polysome-targeting domain and showed that this modification is required for PMR1-mediated mRNA decay. Changing this tyrosine to phenylalanine inactivated the targeting of PMR1 to polysomes, blocked binding of PMR1 to the functional complex containing its substrate mRNA, prevented the targeting of a green fluorescent protein fusion protein to this complex, and stabilized albumin mRNA to degradation by PMR1 in vivo. A general tyrosine kinase inhibitor inhibited the phosphorylation of PMR1, which in turn inhibited PMR1-catalyzed degradation of albumin mRNA. These results indicate that one or more tyrosine kinases functions as a regulator of endonuclease-mediated mRNA decay.

Albumins↗

A minor alternative transcript of the fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase gene produces a protein despite being likely subjected to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay.

BACKGROUND: Coupling of alternative splicing with nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) may regulate gene expression. We report here the identification of a nonsense alternative transcript of the fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase (fah) gene, which produces a protein despite the fact that it is subject to NMD. RESULTS: During the characterization of the effects of the W262X nonsense mutation on FAH mRNA metabolism, two alternative transcripts (del100 and del231) of the fah gene were identified. Del100 lacks exon 8 and as a consequence, the reading frame is shifted and a premature termination codon appears at the 3'end of exon 10. Exons 8 and 9 are skipped in del231, without any disruption of the reading frame. Specific amplification of these transcripts demonstrate that they are produced through minor alternative splicing pathways, and that they are not caused by the W262X mutation per se. As shown with an antiserum raised against the C-terminal part of the putative DEL100 protein, the del100 transcript produces a protein, expressed at different levels in various human tissues. Interestingly, the del100 transcript seems to be subjected to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay, as its level was stabilized following a cycloheximide treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The del100 and del231 transcripts arise due to minor alternative splicing pathways and del100 is likely subjected to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. However the remaining amount of transcript seems sufficient to produce a protein in different human tissues. This suggests that NMD has a broader role than simply eliminating aberrant transcripts and when coupled to alternative splicing, may act to modulate gene expression, by allowing the production of low amounts of protein.

Alternative Splicing↗