Novel features of the XRN-family in Arabidopsis: evidence that AtXRN4, one of several orthologs of nuclear Xrn2p/Rat1p, functions in the cytoplasm.

ABSTRACT: The 5'-3' exoribonucleases Xrn1p and Xrn2p/Rat1p function in the degradation and processing of several classes of RNA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Xrn1p is the main enzyme catalyzing cytoplasmic mRNA degradation in multiple decay pathways, whereas Xrn2p/Rat1p functions in the processing of rRNAs and small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) in the nucleus. Much less is known about the XRN-like proteins of multicellular eukaryotes; however, differences in their activities could explain differences in mRNA degradation between multicellular and unicellular eukaryotes. One such difference is the lack in plants and animals of mRNA decay intermediates like those generated in yeast when Xrn1p is blocked by poly(G) tracts that are inserted within mRNAs. We investigated the XRN-family in Arabidopsis thaliana

SUBMITTER: Kastenmayer JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC17687 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature