Project description:Translation of poly(A) tails leads to mRNA cleavage but the mechanism and global pervasiveness of this “nonstop/no-go” decay process is not understood. Here we performed ribosome profiling of short 15-18 nt mRNA footprints to identify ribosomes stalled at 3’ ends of mRNA decay intermediates. We found mRNA cleavage extending hundreds of nucleotides upstream of ribosome stalling in poly(A) and predominantly in one reading frame. These observations suggest that cleavage is closely associated with the ribosome. Surprisingly, ribosomes appeared to stall when as few as 3 consecutive ORF-internal lysine codons were positioned in the A, P, and E sites though significant mRNA degradation was not observed. Endonucleolytic cleavage was widespread, however, at sites of premature polyadenylation and rescue of the ribosomes stalled at these sites was dependent on Dom34. These results suggest this process may be critical when changes in polyadenylation occur during development, tumorigenesis, or when translation termination/recycling is impaired.
Project description:Global investigation of the 3′ extremity of mRNA, despite its importance in gene regulation, has not been feasible due to technical challenges associated with homopolymeric sequences and relative paucity of mRNA. By developing a new methodology, TAIL-seq, we find a number of unforeseen features at the 3′ termini of mRNA. Our analyses reveal the transcriptome-wide distribution of poly(A) tail and estimate the median poly(A) length as 55-60 nt in mammalian cells, which is substantially shorter than generally conceived. Poly(A) length correlates with mRNA half-life but not with translation efficiency. Surprisingly, we find widespread uridylation and guanylation at the downstream of poly(A) tail. The U-tails are generally attached to short poly(A) tails (<25 nt) while the G-tails are found mainly on longer poly(A) tails (>40 nt), implicating their generic roles in mRNA stability control. In addition, TAIL-seq identifies, with a single nucleotide resolution, numerous nucleolytic events involved in microRNA processing and mRNA cleavage. Single replicate without any special experimental treatment for each of mouse fibroblast cell line NIH3T3 and human cervical cell line HeLa.
Project description:Global investigation of the 3′ extremity of mRNA, despite its importance in gene regulation, has not been feasible due to technical challenges associated with homopolymeric sequences and relative paucity of mRNA. By developing a new methodology, TAIL-seq, we find a number of unforeseen features at the 3′ termini of mRNA. Our analyses reveal the transcriptome-wide distribution of poly(A) tail and estimate the median poly(A) length as 55-60 nt in mammalian cells, which is substantially shorter than generally conceived. Poly(A) length correlates with mRNA half-life but not with translation efficiency. Surprisingly, we find widespread uridylation and guanylation at the downstream of poly(A) tail. The U-tails are generally attached to short poly(A) tails (<25 nt) while the G-tails are found mainly on longer poly(A) tails (>40 nt), implicating their generic roles in mRNA stability control. In addition, TAIL-seq identifies, with a single nucleotide resolution, numerous nucleolytic events involved in microRNA processing and mRNA cleavage.
Project description:Poly(A) tails are critical for mRNA stability and translation. However, recent studies have challenged this view, showing that poly(A) tail length and translation efficiency are decoupled in non-embryonic cells. Using TAIL-seq and ribosome profiling, we investigate poly(A) tail dynamics and translational control in the somatic cell cycle. We find dramatic changes in poly(A) tail lengths of cell cycle regulatory genes like CDK1, TOP2A, and FBXO5, explaining their translational repression in M phase. We also find that poly(A) tail length is coupled to translation when the poly(A) tail is <20 nucleotides. However, as most genes have >20 nucleotide poly(A) tails, their translation is regulated mainly via poly(A) tail length-independent mechanisms during the cell cycle. Specifically, we find that terminal oligopyrimidine (TOP) tract-containing transcripts escape global translational suppression in M phase and are actively translated. Our quantitative and comprehensive data provide a revised view of translational control in the somatic cell cycle. HeLa cells were synchronized at S or M phase, and subject to RNA-seq, ribosome profiling and TAIL-seq analysis.
Project description:Poly(A) tails are important elements in mRNA translation and stability. However, recent genome-wide studies concluded that poly(A) tail length was generally not associated with translational efficiency in non-embryonic cells. To investigate if poly(A) tail size might be coupled to gene expression in an intact organism, we used an adapted TAIL-seq protocol to measure poly(A) tails in Caenorhabditis elegans. Surprisingly, we found that well-expressed transcripts contain relatively short, well-defined tails. This attribute appears dependent on translational efficiency, as transcripts enriched for optimal codons and ribosome association had the shortest tail sizes, while non-coding RNAs retained long tails.
Project description:Poly(A) tails are critical for mRNA stability and translation. However, recent studies have challenged this view, showing that poly(A) tail length and translation efficiency are decoupled in non-embryonic cells. Using TAIL-seq and ribosome profiling, we investigate poly(A) tail dynamics and translational control in the somatic cell cycle. We find dramatic changes in poly(A) tail lengths of cell cycle regulatory genes like CDK1, TOP2A, and FBXO5, explaining their translational repression in M phase. We also find that poly(A) tail length is coupled to translation when the poly(A) tail is <20 nucleotides. However, as most genes have >20 nucleotide poly(A) tails, their translation is regulated mainly via poly(A) tail length-independent mechanisms during the cell cycle. Specifically, we find that terminal oligopyrimidine (TOP) tract-containing transcripts escape global translational suppression in M phase and are actively translated. Our quantitative and comprehensive data provide a revised view of translational control in the somatic cell cycle.
Project description:The unfolded protein response (UPR) continually monitors the protein folding capacity of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In S. pombe, Ire1, an ER membrane-resident kinase/endoribonuclease, utilizes a mechanism of selective degradation of ER-targeted mRNAs (RIDD) to maintain ER homeostasis. Here, we used a genetic screen to identify factors critical to the Ire1-mediated UPR response in S. pombe and found several proteins, Dom34, Hbs1 and SkiX, previously implicated in ribosome rescue and the no-go-decay (NGD) pathway. Ribosome profiling in ER-stressed cells lacking these factors revealed that Ire1-mediated cleavage on ER-associated mRNAs results in ribosome stalling on the cleaved transcript and, ultimately in full mRNA degradation. The process engages mechanisms of precise, iterated cleavage of the mRNAs and ribosome rescue. This clear signature allowed us to discover hundreds of novel mRNA targets of Ire1. Our results reveal that the UPR in S. pombe executes RIDD in an intricate interplay between Ire1, translation, and the NGD surveillance pathway, and establish a critical role for NGD in maintaining ER homeostasis.
Project description:Polyadenylation of mRNA is a key step in eu- karyotic gene expression. However, despite the ma- jor impact of poly(A) tails on mRNA metabolism, the precise roles of poly(A)-binding proteins (PABPs) in nuclear mRNA biogenesis remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate that rapid nuclear depletion of the S. cerevisiae PABP Nab2p leads to a global loss of cellular mRNA, but not of RNA lacking poly(A) tails. Disappearance of mRNA is a nuclear event, but not due to decreased transcription. Instead, the absence of Nab2p results in robust nuclear mRNA decay by the ribonucleolytic RNA exosome in a polyadenylation-dependent process. We con- clude that Nab2p is required to protect early mRNA and therefore constitutes a crucial nuclear mRNA biogenesis factor.
Project description:Polyadenylation of mRNA is a key step in eu- karyotic gene expression. However, despite the ma- jor impact of poly(A) tails on mRNA metabolism, the precise roles of poly(A)-binding proteins (PABPs) in nuclear mRNA biogenesis remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate that rapid nuclear depletion of the S. cerevisiae PABP Nab2p leads to a global loss of cellular mRNA, but not of RNA lacking poly(A) tails. Disappearance of mRNA is a nuclear event, but not due to decreased transcription. Instead, the absence of Nab2p results in robust nuclear mRNA decay by the ribonucleolytic RNA exosome in a polyadenylation-dependent process. We con- clude that Nab2p is required to protect early mRNA and therefore constitutes a crucial nuclear mRNA biogenesis factor. For RNAseq experiments, 2 independent biological replicates of Nab2-AA cells (Y3284) without rapamycin, or treated for 15’ or 30’, as well as control cells (Y2615) treated with rapamycin for 30’ were used. S. Pombe spike-in were used to normalize across samples.
Project description:The oocyte-to-embryo transition (OET) occurs in the absence of new transcription and relies on post-transcriptional gene regulation, including translational control by mRNA poly(A) tail regulation, where cytoplasmic polyadenylation activates translation and deadenylation leads to translational repression and decay. However, how the transcriptome-wide landscape of mRNA poly(A) tails shapes translation across the OET in mammals remains unknown. Here, we performed long-read RNA sequencing to uncover poly(A) tail lengths and mRNA abundance transcriptome-wide in mice across five stages of development from oocyte to embryo. Integrating these data with recently published ribosome profiling data, we demonstrate that poly(A) tail length is coupled to translational efficiency across the entire OET. We uncover an extended wave of global deadenylation during fertilization, which sets up a switch in translation control between the oocyte and embryo. In the oocyte, short-tailed maternal mRNAs that resist deadenylation in the oocyte are translationally activated, whereas large groups of mRNAs deadenylated without decay in the oocyte are later readenylated to drive translation activation in the early embryo. Our findings provide an important resource and insight into the mechanisms by which cytoplasmic polyadenylation and deadenylation dynamically shape poly(A) tail length in a stage-specific manner to orchestrate development from oocyte to embryo in mammals.