Project description:The effect of PABPN1 on translation efficiency was assessed using RNA sequencing of polysomal fractions from muscle cells: parental vs. cells with stable PABPN1 down-regulation (shPAB). The library was constructed after rRNA depletion, allowing to investigate the abundance of different RNA biotypes.
Project description:Poly(A) binding protein nuclear 1 (PABPN1) is a multifunctional regulator of mRNA processing. PABPN1 inhibits alternative polyadenylation (APA), and in conditions with reduced PABPN1 levels APA utilization causes genome-wide mRNA dysregulation. PABPN1 levels decline from midlife onwards in Oculopharyngeal Muscular Dystrophy (OPMD) and in aged muscles. Reduced PABPN1 levels cause muscle atrophy by altering mRNA levels of the ubiquitin proteasome system. The effect of PABPN1-mediated APA utilization on the proteome has not been investigated yet. We report the PABPN1-mediated proteome in Tibialis anterior (TA) mouse muscles, signifying functional impact for the mitochondria, cytoskeleton and translation cellular machineries. Central nucleation and split myofibers marked PABPN1-derived muscle histology. We show that up-regulation of the cytoskeletal proteins: Murc, Pfn1 and Csrp3, is highly associated with PABPN1-mediated muscle pathology and with reduced PABPN1 levels. Elevation of PABPN1 levels by sirtinol treatment reversed muscle pathology and restored levels of those cytoskeletal proteins. We suggest that restoration of PABPN1 levels in aged muscles could be a novel therapeutic strategy to mitigate muscle waste.
Project description:N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant internal messenger (mRNA) modification in mammalian mRNA. This modification is reversible and non-stoichiometric, which potentially adds an additional layer of variety and dynamic control of mRNA metabolism. The m6A-modified mRNA can be selectively recognized by the YTH family “reader” proteins. The preferential binding of m6A-containing mRNA by YTHDF2 is known to reduce the stability of the target transcripts; however, the exact effects of m6A on translation has yet to be elucidated. Here we show that another m6A reader protein, YTHDF1, promotes ribosome loading of its target transcripts. YTHDF1 forms a complex with translation initiation factors to elevate the translation efficiency of its bound mRNA. In a unified mechanism of translation control through m6A, the YTHDF2-mediated decay controls the lifetime of target transcripts; whereas, the YTHDF1-based translation promotion increases the translation efficiency to ensure effective protein production from relatively short-lived transcripts that are marked by m6A. PAR-CLIP and RIP was used to identify YTHDF1 binding sites followed by ribosome profling and RNA seq to assess the consequences of YTHDF1 siRNA knock-down
Project description:N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant internal messenger (mRNA) modification in mammalian mRNA. This modification is reversible and non-stoichiometric, which potentially adds an additional layer of variety and dynamic control of mRNA metabolism. The m6A-modified mRNA can be selectively recognized by the YTH family “reader” proteins. The preferential binding of m6A-containing mRNA by YTHDF2 is known to reduce the stability of the target transcripts; however, the exact effects of m6A on translation has yet to be elucidated. Here we show that another m6A reader protein, YTHDF1, promotes ribosome loading of its target transcripts. YTHDF1 forms a complex with translation initiation factors to elevate the translation efficiency of its bound mRNA. In a unified mechanism of translation control through m6A, the YTHDF2-mediated decay controls the lifetime of target transcripts; whereas, the YTHDF1-based translation promotion increases the translation efficiency to ensure effective protein production from relatively short-lived transcripts that are marked by m6A.
Project description:Ribosome profiling data reports on the distribution of translating ribosomes, at steady-state, with codon-level resolution. We present a robust method to extract codon translation rates and protein synthesis rates from these data, and identify causal features associated with elongation and translation efficiency in physiological conditions in yeast. We show that neither elongation rate nor translational efficiency is improved by experimental manipulation of the abundance or body sequence of the rare AGG tRNA. Deletion of three of the four copies of the heavily used ACA tRNA shows a modest efficiency decrease that could be explained by other rate-reducing signals at gene start. This suggests that correlation between codon bias and efficiency arises as selection for codons to utilize translation machinery efficiently in highly translated genes. We also show a correlation between efficiency and RNA structure calculated both computationally and from recent structure probing data, as well as the Kozak initiation motif, which may comprise a mechanism to regulate initiation. We test whether tRNA abundance affects elongation or translation efficiency by changing the tRNA levels through deletion or over expression and measuring the ribosomal dwell time at each codon using a robust statistical method that accounts for flow conservation.
Project description:Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) is an adult-onset syndrome characterized by progressive degeneration of particular muscles. OPMD is caused by short GCG repeat expansions within the gene encoding the nuclear poly(A)-binding protein 1 (PABPN1) that extend an N-terminal polyalanine tract in the protein. Mutant PABPN1 aggregates as nuclear inclusions in OMPD patient muscles. We have created a Drosophila model of OPMD that recapitulates the features of the human disorder: progressive muscle degeneration, with muscle defects proportional to the number of alanines in the tract, and formation of PABPN1 nuclear inclusions. Wild-type human PABPN1 contains a stretch of 10 alanines following the initial methionine, which is expanded to 12–17 alanines in OPMD patients. In Drosophila, the PABPN1 homolog is the poly(A)-binding protein 2 (PABP2), which has the same function as PABPN1 in nuclear polyadenylation but lacks a polyalanine tract at the N-terminus. We used the UAS/Gal4 system to express mammalian PABPN1 in Drosophila. An alanine-expanded PABPN1 cDNA (encoding the 17 alanine tract) was cloned downstream of UAS sequences (UAS-PABPN1). Transgenic lines containing this construct were crossed to a Mhc-Gal4 driver, leading to muscle-specific expression. To gain insight into the molecular and physiological defects in OPMD we performed a transcriptomic analysis in OPMD fly muscles. Using microarrays, thorax gene expression was compared between control flies (Mhc-Gal4/+) and flies expressing PABPN1-17ala in thoracic muscles (UAS-PABPN1-17ala/+; Mhc-Gal4/+), at three time points (days 2, 6 and 11). Transcriptome of thorax RNA samples from control (Mhc-Gal4/+) flies and flies expressing PABPN1-17ala (UAS-PABPN1-17ala/+; Mhc-Gal4/+)
Project description:Regulation of the efficiency with which an mRNA is translated into proteins represents a key mechanism for controlling gene expression. Such regulation impacts the number of actively translating ribosomes per mRNA molecule, referred to as translation efficiency (TE), which can be monitored using ribosome profiling and RNA-seq, or by evaluating the position of an mRNA in a polysome gradient. Here we show that in budding yeast, under nutrient limiting conditions, the commonly used translation inhibitor cycloheximide induces rapid transcriptional upregulation of hundreds of genes involved in ribosome biogenesis. Cycloheximide also prevents translation of these newly transcribed messages, leading to an apparent drop in TE of these genes under conditions that include key transitions of the yeast metabolic cycle, meiosis, and amino acid starvation; an effect which is abolished when cycloheximide pretreatment is omitted. This response requires TORC1 signaling, and is modulated by the genetic background as well as the vehicle used to deliver the drug. The present work highlights an important caveat to the use of translation inhibitors when measuring TE, and will hopefully aid in future experimental design as well as interpretation of prior results
Project description:Reduced PABPN1 levels cause aging-associated muscle wasting. PABPN1 is a multi-functional regulator of mRNA processing. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms causing PABPN1-mediated muscle wasting, we compared the transcriptome to the proteome in mouse muscles expressing shRNA to PABPN1 (shPab). We found greater variations in the proteome as compared to mRNA expression profiles. Protein accumulation in the shPab proteome was concomitant with reduced proteasomal activity. Notably, protein acetylation appeared to be enriched in shPab versus control proteomes (63%). An acetylome study in shPab muscles revealed prominent peptide deacetylation associated with elevated sirtuin-1 (SIRT1) deacetylase. We show that SIRT1 mRNA levels are controlled by PABPN1 via an alternative polyadenylation site utilization. SIRT1 inhibition reversed PABPN1 activity and muscle cell function. Moreover, deacetylation inhibition increased PABPN1 levels and reversed muscle wasting. We suggest that perturbation of a multifactorial regulatory loop involving PABPN1 and SIRT1 plays an imperative role in aging-associated muscle wasting.