Project description:Microarray comparisons of transcript level in wild-type Arabidopsis and eif3h mutant plants. Goal:; To detect any change in transcript level between WT and eif3h mutant. BACKGROUND: The eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF3 has multiple roles during the initiation of translation of cytoplasmic mRNAs. However, the contributions of individual subunits of eIF3 to the translation of specific mRNAs remain poorly understood. RESULTS: Working with stable reporter transgenes in Arabidopsis thaliana it was demonstrated that the h subunit of; eIF3 contributes to the efficient translation initiation of mRNAs harboring upstream open reading frames (uORFs) in their 5â leader sequence. uORFs, which can function as devices for translational regulation, are present in over 30% of Arabidopsis mRNAs, and are enriched among mRNAs for transcriptional regulators and protein modifying enzymes. Microarray comparisons of polysome loading in wild-type and eif3h mutant plants revealed that eIF3h generally helps to maintain efficient polysome loading of mRNAs harboring multiple uORFs. Independently, eIF3h also boosted polysome loading of mRNAs with long coding sequences. Moreover, the lesion in eIF3h revealed a concerted upregulation of translation for specific functional subgroups of mRNAs, including ribosomal proteins and proteins involved in photosynthesis. CONCLUSIONS: The intact eIF3h protein contributes to efficient translation initiation on 5â leader sequences harboring multiple uORFs, although mRNA features independent of uORFs were also implicated. Moreover, our data suggest that regulons of translational control can be revealed by mutations in generic translation initiation factors. Experiment Overall Design: Total RNA samples were isolated from 10-day-old wild-type and eif3h mutant plants
Project description:Using RNA-Seq analysis of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) mutant strains, we show that many Saccharomyces cerevisiae intron-containing genes exhibit usage of alternative splice sites, but most transcripts generated by splicing from these sites are non-functional because they introduce premature termination codons leading to transcript degradation by NMD. Analysis of splicing mutants combined with NMD inactivation revealed the role of specific splicing factors in governing the use of these alternative splice sites and identified novel functions for Prp17p in enhancing the use of branchpoint-proximal upstream 3M-bM-^@M-^Y splice sites and for Prp18p in suppressing the usage of a non-canonical AUG 3M-bM-^@M-^Y-splice site. The use of non-productive alternative splice sites can limit the expression of some transcripts and can be increased in stress conditions in a promoter-dependent manner, contributing to the down-regulation of genes during stress. These results reveal that alternative splicing is frequent in S.cerevisiae but masked by RNA degradation and that the use of alternative splice sites is mostly aimed at controlling transcript levels rather than increasing proteome diversity. mRNA-Seq profiling of 3 mutants in the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway and wildtype yeast
Project description:In Staphylococcus aureus, de novo methionine biosynthesis is regulated by a unique hierarchical pathway involving stringent-response controlled CodY repression in combination with a T-box riboswitch and RNA decay. The T-box riboswitch residing in the 5' untranslated region (met leader RNA) of the S. aureus metICFE-mdh operon controls downstream gene transcription upon interaction with uncharged methionyl-tRNA. met leader and metICFE-mdh (m)RNAs undergo RNase-mediated degradation in a process whose molecular details are poorly understood. Here, we determined the secondary structure of the met leader RNA and found the element to harbor, beyond other conserved T-box riboswitch structural features, a terminator helix which is a target for RNase III endoribonucleolytic cleavage. As the terminator is a thermodynamically highly stable structure, it also forms posttranscriptionally in met leader/ metICFE-mdh read-through transcripts. Cleavage by RNase III releases the met leader from metICFE-mdh mRNA and initiates RNase J-mediated degradation of the mRNA from the 5'-end. Of note, metICFE-mdh mRNA stability varies over the length of the transcript with a longer lifespan towards the 3'-end. Corresponding variations in protein levels led us to hypothesize that coordinated RNA decay represents another level in the hierarchical methionine biosynthesis control network to adjust methionine biosynthesis enzyme amounts to current metabolic requirements.
Project description:In Staphylococcus aureus, de novo methionine biosynthesis is regulated by a unique hierarchical pathway involving stringent-response controlled CodY repression in combination with a T-box riboswitch and RNA decay. The T-box riboswitch residing in the 5' untranslated region (met leader RNA) of the S. aureus metICFE-mdh operon controls downstream gene transcription upon interaction with uncharged methionyl-tRNA. met leader and metICFE-mdh (m)RNAs undergo RNase-mediated degradation in a process whose molecular details are poorly understood. Here, we determined the secondary structure of the met leader RNA and found the element to harbor, beyond other conserved T-box riboswitch structural features, a terminator helix which is a target for RNase III endoribonucleolytic cleavage. As the terminator is a thermodynamically highly stable structure, it also forms posttranscriptionally in met leader/ metICFE-mdh read-through transcripts. Cleavage by RNase III releases the met leader from metICFE-mdh mRNA and initiates RNase J-mediated degradation of the mRNA from the 5'-end. Of note, metICFE-mdh mRNA stability varies over the length of the transcript with a longer lifespan towards the 3'-end. Corresponding variations in protein levels led us to hypothesize that coordinated RNA decay represents another level in the hierarchical methionine biosynthesis control network to adjust methionine biosynthesis enzyme amounts to current metabolic requirements.
Project description:Cytoplasmic RNA granules compartmentalize phases of the translation cycle in eukaryotes. We previously reported the localization of oxidized RNA to cytoplasmic foci called oxidized RNA bodies (ORBs) in human cells. We show here that ORBs are RNA granules in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Several lines of evidence support a role of ORBs in the compartmentalization of no-go decay and ribosome quality control, the translation quality control pathways that recognize and clear aberrant mRNAs, including those with oxidized bases. Translation is required by these pathways and ORBs. Translation quality control factors localize to ORBs. A substrate of translation quality control, a stalled mRNA-ribosome-nascent chain complex, localizes to ORBS. Translation quality control mutants have altered ORB numbers, sizes, or both. In addition, we identify 68 ORB proteins, by immunofluorescence staining directed by proteomics, which further support their role in translation quality control and reveal candidate new factors for these pathways.