Project description:The La-related protein LARP7 has been mainly described as a component of the 7SK small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP) complex, which negatively regulates RNA polymerase II by sequestering the positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb). In our studies, we discovered a novel, 7SK snRNP-independent function of LARP7. We show that LARP7 interacts with the U6 spliceosomal RNA as well as with the small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) directing the 2'-O-methylations of U6. To investigate the relevance of this interaction, U6 or U2 snRNAs were purified from total RNA by pulldown of biotinylated antisense oligonucleotides and the occurence of 2’-O-methylations was investigated by RiboMeth-seq analysis. A comparison between U6 and U2 snRNA isolated from HEK293 wildtype or LARP7 knockout cell lines revealed that 2’-O-methylations of the U6 snRNA are specifically lost in the absence of LARP7. Alazami syndrome is a form of primary dwarfism associated with mutations in the LARP7 gene. RiboMeth-seq analyses performed with RNA isolated from blood samples of two Alazami patients or healthy parents as well as from B-lymphoblastoid cell lines (B-LCLs) derived from an Alazami patient and from a healthy parent confirmed the impact of mutant LARP7 protein variants on the 2’-O-methylation profile of the U6 snRNA.
Project description:Mpn1 proteins are evolutionarily conserved exonucleases that modify spliceosomal U6 small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) post-transcriptionally. Mutations in the human MPN1 gene are associated to the genodermatosis Clericuzio-type poikiloderma with neutropenia (PN). Mpn1 deficiency leads to aberrant U6 3M-bM-^@M-^Y end processing and accelerated U6 decay through unknown molecular mechanisms. Here we show that in mpn1M-NM-^T fission yeast cells U6 is barely bound by the protective Lsm2-8 complex, undergoes extensive oligoadenylation and is degraded by the nuclear RNA exonuclease Rrp6 independently of the poly(A) polymerase Cid14/Trf4. Mpn1 processes U6 in a spliceosome-dependent manner, as mutant U6 molecules that fail to join the spliceosome are not substrates for Mpn1. Moreover, human U6atac, the U6-like snRNA of the minor spliceosome, is a novel substrate for hMpn1. We unveil mechanistic details of a new U6 degradation pathway and further corroborate the notion that inefficient canonical and minor pre-mRNA splicing promotes PN. the 3' termini of U6 or tagged-U6 species from the indicated mutant cells were compared to wt yeast strain
Project description:Mpn1 proteins are evolutionarily conserved exonucleases that modify spliceosomal U6 small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) post-transcriptionally. Mutations in the human MPN1 gene are associated to the genodermatosis Clericuzio-type poikiloderma with neutropenia (PN). Mpn1 deficiency leads to aberrant U6 3’ end processing and accelerated U6 decay through unknown molecular mechanisms. Here we show that in mpn1Δ fission yeast cells U6 is barely bound by the protective Lsm2-8 complex, undergoes extensive oligoadenylation and is degraded by the nuclear RNA exonuclease Rrp6 independently of the poly(A) polymerase Cid14/Trf4. Mpn1 processes U6 in a spliceosome-dependent manner, as mutant U6 molecules that fail to join the spliceosome are not substrates for Mpn1. Moreover, human U6atac, the U6-like snRNA of the minor spliceosome, is a novel substrate for hMpn1. We unveil mechanistic details of a new U6 degradation pathway and further corroborate the notion that inefficient canonical and minor pre-mRNA splicing promotes PN.
Project description:Spliceosomal snRNA are key components of small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles (snRNPs), the building blocks of the spliceosome. The biogenesis of snRNPs is a complex process involving multiple cellular and subcellular compartments, the details of which are yet to be described. In short, the snRNA is exported to the cytoplasm as 3‘-end extended precursor (pre-snRNA), where it acquires a heptameric Sm ring. The SMN complex which catalyses this step, recruits Sm proteins and assembles them around the pre-snRNA at the single stranded Sm site. After additional modification, the complex is re-imported into the nucleus where the final maturation step occurs. Our modeling suggests that during the cytoplasmic stage of maturation pre-snRNA assumes a compact secondary structure containing Near Sm site Stem (NSS) which is not compattible with the formation of the Sm ring. To validate our in silico predictions we employed selective 2'-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension sequencing (SHAPE-Seq) on U2 snRNA in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro, and U4 pre-snRNA in vitro. For the in vivo experiment HeLa cells were incubated for 10 min at 37°C with NAI or DMSO to final concentration 200 mM. RNA was isolated using Trizol (Sigma) and 200 µl chloroform and precipitated with ethanol at -20°C overnight. For the ex vivo experiment, RNA was isolated from HeLa cells after Protease K treatment at room temperature for 45 min. After incubation, RNA was isolated using equilibrated phenol/chloroform/isoamyl alcohol buffered by folding buffer (110 mM HEPES pH 8.0, 110 mM KCl, 11 mM MgCl2) and cleaned on a PD-10 column according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Isolated RNA was treated with 100mM NAI or DMSO for 10 min at 37°C. For the in vitro experiment, U2WT and U4 pre-snRNA were transcribed by T7 polymerase followed by DNase I (30 min at 37 °C) and Proteinase K (30 min at 37°C) treatments. U2 snRNA was purified on 30 kDa Amicon columns, folded for 30 min at 37°C in 57 mM MgCl2 and incubated with 100 mM NAI at 37°C for 10 min. DMSO was used as a negative control. U4 pre-snRNA was purified on Superdex 200 Increase 10/300GL, folded for 30 min at 37°C in 60 mM MgCl2 and incubated with 100 mM NAI at 37°C for 10 min. DMSO was used as a negative control. All prepared RNA samples (in vitro, ex vivo, in vivo) were used for reverse transcription with the gene-specific primer 5’-CGTTCCTGGAGGTACTGCAA for U2 snRNA and 5’- AAAAATTCAGTCTCCG for U4 pre-snRNA. We used SHAPE MaP buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.0, 75 mM KCl, 10 mM DTT, 0.5 mM dNTP, 6 mM MnCl2) and SuperScript II (Invitrogen). Amplicons for snRNAs were generated using gene-specific forward and reverse primers. Importantly, the primers include Nextera adaptors required for downstream library construction. PCR reaction products were cleaned using Monarch PCR&DNA Clean-up Kits. Remaining Illumina adaptor sequences were added using the PCR MasterMix and index primers provided in the NexteraXT DNA Library Preparation Kit (Illumina) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. Libraries were quantified using Qubit (Invitrogen) and BioAnalyzer (Agilent). Amplicons were sequenced on a NextSeq 500/550 platform using a 150 cycle mid-output kit. All sequencing data was analyzed using the ShapeMapper 2 analysis pipeline1. The ‘—amplicon’ and ‘—primers’ flags were used, along with sequences of gene-specific handles PCR primers, to ensure primer binding sites are excluded from reactivity calculations. Default read-depth thresholds of 5000x were used. Analysis of statistically significant reactivity differences between ex vivo and in vivo-determined SHAPE reactivities was performed using the DeltaSHAPE automated analysis tool and default settings2. 1. Busan, S. & Weeks, K.M. Accurate detection of chemical modifications in RNA by mutational profiling (MaP) with ShapeMapper 2. RNA 24, 143-148 (2018). 2. Smola, M.J., Rice, G.M., Busan, S., Siegfried, N.A. & Weeks, K.M. Selective 2'-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension and mutational profiling (SHAPE-MaP) for direct, versatile and accurate RNA structure analysis. Nat Protoc 10, 1643-69 (2015).
Project description:Modified nucleotides in non-coding RNAs, such as tRNAs and snRNAs, represent an important layer of gene expression regulation through their ability to fine-tune mRNA maturation and transla-tion. Growing evidences support important roles of tRNA/snRNAs modifications and hence the enzymes that install them, in eukaryotic cell development and their dysregulation has been linked to various human pathologies including neurodevelopmental disorders and cancers. Human TRMT112 (Trm112 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae) functions as an allosteric regulator of several methyltransfer-ases (MTases) targeting molecules (tRNAs, rRNAs and proteins) involved in protein synthesis. Here, we have investigated the interaction network of human TRMT112 in intact cells and identify three poorly characterized putative MTases (TRMT11, THUMPD3 and THUMD2) as direct part-ners. We demonstrate that these three proteins are active N2-methylguanosine (m2G) MTases and that TRMT11 and THUMPD3 methylate positions 10 and 6 of tRNAs, respectively. In contrast, we discovered that THUMPD2 directly associates with the U6 snRNA and is required for the for-mation of m2G in this core component of the catalytic spliceosome. Consistently, our data reveal the combined importance of TRMT11 and THUMPD3 for optimal protein synthesis and cancer cell proliferation as well as a role for THUMPD2 in fine-tuning pre-mRNA splicing.
Project description:Modified nucleotides in non-coding RNAs, such as tRNAs and snRNAs, represent an important layer of gene expression regulation through their ability to fine-tune mRNA maturation and transla-tion. Growing evidences support important roles of tRNA/snRNAs modifications and hence the enzymes that install them, in eukaryotic cell development and their dysregulation has been linked to various human pathologies including neurodevelopmental disorders and cancers. Human TRMT112 (Trm112 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae) functions as an allosteric regulator of several methyltransfer-ases (MTases) targeting molecules (tRNAs, rRNAs and proteins) involved in protein synthesis. Here, we have investigated the interaction network of human TRMT112 in intact cells and identify three poorly characterized putative MTases (TRMT11, THUMPD3 and THUMD2) as direct part-ners. We demonstrate that these three proteins are active N2-methylguanosine (m2G) MTases and that TRMT11 and THUMPD3 methylate positions 10 and 6 of tRNAs, respectively. In contrast, we discovered that THUMPD2 directly associates with the U6 snRNA and is required for the for-mation of m2G in this core component of the catalytic spliceosome. Consistently, our data reveal the combined importance of TRMT11 and THUMPD3 for optimal protein synthesis and cancer cell proliferation as well as a role for THUMPD2 in fine-tuning pre-mRNA splicing.
Project description:Modified nucleotides in non-coding RNAs, such as tRNAs and snRNAs, represent an important layer of gene expression regulation through their ability to fine-tune mRNA maturation and translation. Dysregulation of such modifications and the enzymes installing them have been linked to various human pathologies including neurodevelopmental disorders and cancers. Several methyltransferases (MTases) are regulated allosterically by human TRMT112 (Trm112 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae), but the interactome of this regulator and targets of its interacting MTases remain incompletely characterized. Here, we have investigated the interaction network of human TRMT112 in intact cells and identify three poorly characterized putative MTases (TRMT11, THUMPD3 and THUMPD2) as direct partners. We demonstrate that these three proteins are active N2-methylguanosine (m2G) MTases and that TRMT11 and THUMPD3 methylate positions 10 and 6 of tRNAs, respectively. For THUMPD2, we discovered that it directly associates with the U6 snRNA, a core component of the catalytic spliceosome, and is required for the formation of m2G, the last “orphan” modification in U6 snRNA. Furthermore, our data reveal the combined importance of TRMT11 and THUMPD3 for optimal protein synthesis and cell proliferation as well as a role for THUMPD2 in fine-tuning pre-mRNA splicing.