scholarly journals A UPF1 variant drives conditional remodeling of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Fritz ◽  
Soumya Ranganathan ◽  
J. Robert Hogg

AbstractThe nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway monitors translation termination to degrade transcripts with premature stop codons and regulate thousands of human genes. Due to the major role of NMD in RNA quality control and gene expression regulation, it is important to understand how the pathway responds to changing cellular conditions. Here we show that an alternative mammalian-specific isoform of the core NMD factor UPF1, termed UPF1LL, enables condition-dependent remodeling of NMD specificity. UPF1LL associates more stably with potential NMD target mRNAs than the major UPF1SL isoform, expanding the scope of NMD to include many transcripts normally immune to the pathway. Unexpectedly, the enhanced persistence of UPF1LL on mRNAs supports induction of NMD in response to rare translation termination events. Thus, while canonical NMD is abolished by translational repression, UPF1LL activity is enhanced, providing a mechanism to rapidly rewire NMD specificity in response to cellular stress.

Blood ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 110 (11) ◽  
pp. 506-506
Author(s):  
Joachim Weischenfeldt ◽  
Inge Damgaard ◽  
David Bryder ◽  
Claus Nerlov ◽  
Bo Porse

Abstract Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a conserved cellular surveillance system that degrades mRNAs with premature termination codons (PTCs). PTC-containing transcripts can arise from faulty events such as erroneous mRNA processing events as well as mutations, and their translation may lead to the synthesis of deleterious proteins. In addition to serving as a genomic protection system, experiments in tissue culture cells have demonstrated that NMD regulates 5% of the normal mRNA pool suggesting that the NMD pathway may have a broader role in gene regulation. Finally, NMD has also been proposed to be important during lymphocyte development as a tool of riding the cells of transcripts resulting from unproductive re-arrangements events of T cell receptor and immunoglobulin genes. Although NMD has been studied extensively at the biochemical level, the actual role and importance of NMD in the mammalian organism has not been investigated. We therefore generated a conditional Upf2 knock-out mouse line (UPF2 being an essential NMD factor) which we crossed to different hematopoietic relevant Cre expressing lines. Full ablation of UPF2 (using the inducible Mx1-Cre deleter) led to complete loss of all nucleated cells in the bone marrow and death of the animals within 10 days. A similar phenotype was observed when Upf2fl/fl; Mx1Cre BM cells were transplanted into lethally irradiated WT recipients and induced with poly-IC, demonstrating the cell autonomous nature of the phenotype. Deletion of UPF2 in the myeloid lineage using the LysM-Cre deleter resulted in efficient ablation of UPF2 and the absence of NMD in reporter transfected bone marrow derived macrophages (BMDMs). However, the steady state levels of myeloid cells appeared unaltered. Finally, deletion of UPF2 in T cells using a Lck-Cre deleter led to a marked reduction of both CD4/CD8 double-positive and single-positive T cells and accumulation of PTC containing transcripts. Gene expression profiling experiments of BMDM and thymocytes from WT and UPF2-ablated animals identified a common core set of 27 up-regulated genes consistent with the role of NMD as a mRNA degrading system. The gene expression profiling data suggest that ablation of NMD leads to accumulation of unfolded proteins. In summary, these studies demonstrate the vital and cell-autonomous role of NMD in the hematopoietic system.


eLife ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiyun Ge ◽  
Bao Lin Quek ◽  
Karen L Beemon ◽  
J Robert Hogg

The nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway degrades mRNAs containing long 3'UTRs to perform dual roles in mRNA quality control and gene expression regulation. However, expansion of vertebrate 3'UTR functions has required a physical expansion of 3'UTR lengths, complicating the process of detecting nonsense mutations. We show that the polypyrimidine tract binding protein 1 (PTBP1) shields specific retroviral and cellular transcripts from NMD. When bound near a stop codon, PTBP1 blocks the NMD protein UPF1 from binding 3'UTRs. PTBP1 can thus mark specific stop codons as genuine, preserving both the ability of NMD to accurately detect aberrant mRNAs and the capacity of long 3'UTRs to regulate gene expression. Illustrating the wide scope of this mechanism, we use RNA-seq and transcriptome-wide analysis of PTBP1 binding sites to show that many human mRNAs are protected by PTBP1 and that PTBP1 enrichment near stop codons correlates with 3'UTR length and resistance to NMD.


Author(s):  
Volker Boehm ◽  
Sabrina Kueckelmann ◽  
Jennifer V. Gerbracht ◽  
Thiago Britto-Borges ◽  
Janine Altmüller ◽  
...  

AbstractEukaryotic gene expression is constantly regulated and controlled by the translation-coupled nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway. Aberrant translation termination leads to NMD activation and robust clearance of NMD targets via two seemingly independent and redundant mRNA degradation branches. Here, we uncover that the loss of the first SMG5-SMG7-dependent pathway also inactivates the second SMG6-dependent branch, indicating an unexpected functional hierarchy of the final NMD steps. Transcriptome-wide analyses of SMG5-SMG7-depleted cells confirm complete NMD inhibition resulting in massive transcriptomic alterations. The NMD activity conferred by SMG5-SMG7 is determined to varying degrees by their interaction with the central NMD factor UPF1, heterodimer formation and the initiation of deadenylation. Surprisingly, we find that SMG5 functionally substitutes SMG7 and vice versa. Our data support an improved model for NMD execution that requires two-factor authentication involving UPF1 phosphorylation and SMG5-SMG7 recruitment to access SMG6 activity.


2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 497-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Mühlemann

Among the different cellular surveillance mechanisms that ensure accurate gene expression, nonsense-mediated mRNA decay rapidly degrades mRNAs harbouring PTCs (premature translation-termination codons) and thereby prevents the accumulation of potentially deleterious proteins with C-terminal truncations. In the present article, I review recent data from yeast, fluitflies, nematode worms and human cells and endeavour to merge these results into a unified model for recognition of nonsense mRNA. According to this model, the distinction between translation termination at PTCs and at ‘normal’ termination codons relies on the physical distance between the terminating ribosome and PABP [poly(A)-binding protein]. Correct translation termination is promoted by a PABP-mediated signal to the terminating ribosome, whereas the absence of this signal leads to the assembly of an mRNA decay-promoting protein complex including the conserved NMD factors UPF (up-frameshift) 1–3.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Volker Boehm ◽  
Sabrina Kueckelmann ◽  
Jennifer V. Gerbracht ◽  
Sebastian Kallabis ◽  
Thiago Britto-Borges ◽  
...  

AbstractEukaryotic gene expression is constantly controlled by the translation-coupled nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway. Aberrant translation termination leads to NMD activation, resulting in phosphorylation of the central NMD factor UPF1 and robust clearance of NMD targets via two seemingly independent and redundant mRNA degradation branches. Here, we uncover that the loss of the first SMG5-SMG7-dependent pathway also inactivates the second SMG6-dependent branch, indicating an unexpected functional connection between the final NMD steps. Transcriptome-wide analyses of SMG5-SMG7-depleted cells confirm exhaustive NMD inhibition resulting in massive transcriptomic alterations. Intriguingly, we find that the functionally underestimated SMG5 can substitute the role of SMG7 and individually activate NMD. Furthermore, the presence of either SMG5 or SMG7 is sufficient to support SMG6-mediated endonucleolysis of NMD targets. Our data support an improved model for NMD execution that features two-factor authentication involving UPF1 phosphorylation and SMG5-SMG7 recruitment to access SMG6 activity.


2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 698-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saverio Brogna ◽  
Preethi Ramanathan ◽  
Jikai Wen

NMD (nonsense-mediated mRNA decay) is a mechanism that degrades transcripts containing PTCs (premature translation termination codons). NMD is a translation-associated process that is expected to take place throughout the cytoplasm. However, recent studies have indicated that the core NMD factors UPF1 (up-frameshift-1), UPF2 and UPF3 can associate with P-bodies (processing bodies), which are large cytoplasmic granules replete with proteins involved in general mRNA decay and related processes. It has been proposed that UPF1 directs PTC-containing mRNAs to P-bodies and triggers decay. Here, we discuss the link between P-bodies and NMD in view of recent studies that suggest that P-bodies are not required for NMD in Drosophila.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenji Inoue ◽  
Tatsuhiko Kodama ◽  
Hiroyuki Daida

Numerous studies have recently examined the role of pentraxin 3 (PTX3) in clinical situations. The pentraxin family includes C-reactive protein (CRP); however, unlike CRP, PTX3 is expressed predominantly in atherosclerotic lesions that involve macrophages, neutrophils, dendritic cells, or smooth muscle cells. Interestingly, PTX3 gene expression in human endothelial cells is suppressed to a greater extent by pitavastatin than the expression of 6,000 other human genes that have been examined, suggesting that PTX3 may be a novel biomarker for inflammatory cardiovascular disease. The expression and involvement of PTX3 in cardiovascular diseases are discussed in this paper, along with the characteristics of PTX3 that make it a suitable biomarker; namely, that the physiological concentration is known and it is independent of other risk factors. The results discussed in this paper suggest that further investigations into the potential novel use of PTX3 as a biomarker for inflammatory cardiovascular disease should be undertaken.


2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (13) ◽  
pp. 4320-4330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arneet L. Saltzman ◽  
Yoon Ki Kim ◽  
Qun Pan ◽  
Matthew M. Fagnani ◽  
Lynne E. Maquat ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Alternative splicing (AS) can regulate gene expression by introducing premature termination codons (PTCs) into spliced mRNA that subsequently elicit transcript degradation by the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway. However, the range of cellular functions controlled by this process and the factors required are poorly understood. By quantitative AS microarray profiling, we find that there are significant overlaps among the sets of PTC-introducing AS events affected by individual knockdown of the three core human NMD factors, Up-Frameshift 1 (UPF1), UPF2, and UPF3X/B. However, the levels of some PTC-containing splice variants are less or not detectably affected by the knockdown of UPF2 and/or UPF3X, compared with the knockdown of UPF1. The intron sequences flanking the affected alternative exons are often highly conserved, suggesting important regulatory roles for these AS events. The corresponding genes represent diverse cellular functions, and surprisingly, many encode core spliceosomal proteins and assembly factors. We further show that conserved, PTC-introducing AS events are enriched in genes that encode core spliceosomal proteins. Where tested, altering the expression levels of these core spliceosomal components affects the regulation of PTC-containing splice variants from the corresponding genes. Together, our results show that AS-coupled NMD can have different UPF factor requirements and is likely to regulate many general components of the spliceosome. The results further implicate general spliceosomal components in AS regulation.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document