Role of a ribosome-associated E3 ubiquitin ligase in protein quality control.

ABSTRACT: Messenger RNA lacking stop codons ('non-stop mRNA') can arise from errors in gene expression, and encode aberrant proteins whose accumulation could be deleterious to cellular function. In bacteria, these 'non-stop proteins' become co-translationally tagged with a peptide encoded by ssrA/tmRNA (transfer-messenger RNA), which signals their degradation by energy-dependent proteases. How eukaryotic cells eliminate non-stop proteins has remained unknown. Here we show that the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ltn1 RING-domain-type E3 ubiquitin ligase acts in the quality control of non-stop proteins, in a process that is mechanistically distinct but conceptually analogous to that performed by ssrA: Ltn1 is predominantly associated with ribosomes, and it marks nascent non-stop proteins with ubiquitin to s

SUBMITTER: Bengtson MH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2988496 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature