Ribosomal ubiquitination facilitates mRNA cleavage and ribosome rescue during No-Go and Nonstop mRNA Decay

During translational surveillance, ribosomes play a critical role in detecting problematic mRNAs and signaling cellular machinery to repress the offending messages. Prior work has shown that problematic mRNAs identified by two surveillance pathways (Nonstop and No-Go mRNA Decay) are detected by ribosome collisions and subsequent ribosomal ubiquitination, yet how ribosomal ubiquitination leads to repression has remained unclear. Here, we deploy C. elegans to unravel the series of coordinated events during Nonstop and No-Go mRNA Decay. We probe the metazoan SKI RNA helicase complex to uncover functionally significant residues and reveal divergence of the SKI-exosome interface. We define a functional requirement for ubiquitination on at least two ribosomal proteins during No-Go mRNA Decay, and illustrate how ubiquitination recruits the endonuclease NONU-1 via CUE domains and the ribosome rescue factor HBS-1 via its poorly characterized N-terminus. Our molecular characterization (1) underscores the importance of ribosomal ubiquitination in mRNA degradation, (2) shows similar and distinct genetic dependencies of factors in Nonstop and No-Go mRNA Decay, and (3) uncovers a conspicuous absence of distinct ribosomal stalls at No-Go mRNA Decay substrates. Our work demonstrates mechanisms by which translation signals to effectors of co-translational mRNA repression and has implications for the study of translation and ribosomal species in vivo.

Signal Recognition for English Speech Translation Based on Improved Wavelet Denoising Method

The signal corresponding to English speech contains a lot of redundant information and environmental interference information, which will produce a lot of distortion in the process of English speech translation signal recognition. Based on this, a large number of studies focus on encoding and processing English speech, so as to achieve high-precision speech recognition. The traditional wavelet denoising algorithm plays an obvious role in the recognition of English speech translation signals, which mainly depends on the excellent local time-frequency domain characteristics of the wavelet signal algorithm, but the traditional wavelet signal algorithm is still difficult to select the recognition threshold, and the recognition accuracy is easy to be affected. Based on this, this paper will improve the traditional wavelet denoising algorithm, abandon the single-threshold judgment of the original traditional algorithm, innovatively adopt the combination of soft threshold and hard threshold, further solve the distortion problem of the denoising algorithm in the process of English speech translation signal recognition, improve the signal-to-noise ratio of English speech recognition, and further reduce the root mean square error of the signal. Good noise reduction effect is realized, and the accuracy of speech recognition is improved. In the experiment, the algorithm is compared with the traditional algorithm based on MATLAB simulation software. The simulation results are consistent with the actual theoretical results. At the same time, the algorithm proposed in this paper has obvious advantages in the recognition accuracy of English speech translation signals, which reflects the superiority and practical value of the algorithm.

Overexpression-based detection of translatable circular RNAs is vulnerable to coexistent linear RNA byproducts

In RNA field, the demarcation between coding and non-coding has been negotiated by the recent discovery of occasionally translated circular RNAs (circRNAs). Although absent of 5’ cap structure, circRNAs can be translated cap-independently. Complementary intron-mediated overexpression is one of the most utilized methodologies for circRNA research but not without bearing echoing skepticism for its poorly defined mechanism and latent coexistent side products. In this study, leveraging such circRNA overexpression system, we have interrogated the protein-coding potential of 30 human circRNAs containing infinite open reading frames in HEK293T cells. Surprisingly, pervasive translation signals are detected by immunoblotting. However, intensive mutagenesis reveals that numerous translation signals are generated independently of circRNA synthesis. We have developed a dual tag strategy to isolate translation noise and directly demonstrate that the fallacious translation signals originate from cryptically spliced linear transcripts. The concomitant linear RNA byproducts, presumably concatemers, can be translated to allow pseudo rolling circle translation signals, and can involve backsplicing junction (BSJ) to disqualify the BSJ-based evidence for circRNA translation. We also find non-AUG start codons may engage in the translation initiation of circRNAs. Taken together, our systematic evaluation sheds light on heterogeneous translational outputs from circRNA overexpression vector and comes with a caveat that ectopic overexpression technique necessitates extremely rigorous control setup in circRNA translation and functional investigation.

Genome-wide transcriptome and translatome analyses reveal the role of protein extension and domestication in liver cancer oncogenesis

ABSTRACTOne gene could be transcribed to different RNA isoforms, and then produce various forms of protein sequences. This mechanism largely diversifies the cellular pool and allows natural selection to select from a wider range of substrates. Most of the deleterious changes should be either purged or only be observed in patients with deficiencies or diseases. In the cancer field, the “intra-gene” changes between tumor and normal tissues such as the alternative splicing, stop codon read-through, or protein domestication could not be captured by differential expression analyses. In this work, we collected public transcriptome and translatome data from ten patients with liver cancer, and performed genome-wide comparison on the stop codon read-through and protein domestication events. Both events could diversify the proteome without changing the genome sequence. Surprisingly, we found that compared to normal tissues, the tumor tissues globally have significantly higher occurrence of stop codon read-through events. Similarly, the translation signals of non-coding repetitive elements (protein domestication) are elevated in tumor samples. These read-through and domestication events show limited overlapping across the ten patients, suggesting the randomness of the occurrence. It also indicates that these tumor-specific read-through and domestication events should be deleterious, and should be purged by natural selection if they are not collected timely. Our work manifests the role of protein extension and domestication in liver cancer oncogenesis, and adds new aspects to the cancer field.

Assembly of an atrazine catabolic operon and its introduction to Gram-negative hosts for robust and stable degradation of triazine herbicides

ABSTRACT In 1995, Pseudomonas sp. ADP, capable of metabolizing atrazine, was isolated from contaminated soil. Genes responsible for atrazine mineralization were found scattered in the 108.8 kb pADP-1 plasmid carried by this strain, some of them flanked by insertion sequences rendering them unstable. The goal of this work was to construct a transcriptional unit containing the atz operon in an easy to transfer manner, to be introduced and inherited stably by Gram-negative bacteria. atz genes were PCR amplified, joined into an operon and inserted onto the mobilizable plasmid pBAMD1–2. Primers were designed to add efficient transcription and translation signals. Plasmid bearing the atz operon was transferred to different Gram-negative strains by conjugation, which resulted in Tn5 transposase-mediated chromosomal insertion of the atz operon. To test the operon activity, atrazine degradation by transposants was assessed both colorimetrically and by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Transposants mineralized atrazine more efficiently than wild-type Pseudomonas sp. ADP and did not accumulate cyanuric acid. Atrazine degradation was not repressed by simple nitrogen sources. Genes conferring atrazine-mineralizing capacities were stable and had little or null effect on the fitness of different transposants. Introduction of catabolic operons in a stable fashion could be used to develop bacteria with better degrading capabilities useful in bioremediation.

Transformation of spatiotemporal dynamics in the macaque vestibular system from otolith afferents to cortex

Sensory signals undergo substantial recoding when neural activity is relayed from sensors through pre-thalamic and thalamic nuclei to cortex. To explore how temporal dynamics and directional tuning are sculpted in hierarchical vestibular circuits, we compared responses of macaque otolith afferents with neurons in the vestibular and cerebellar nuclei, as well as five cortical areas, to identical three-dimensional translational motion. We demonstrate a remarkable spatio-temporal transformation: otolith afferents carry spatially aligned cosine-tuned translational acceleration and jerk signals. In contrast, brainstem and cerebellar neurons exhibit non-linear, mixed selectivity for translational velocity, acceleration, jerk and position. Furthermore, these components often show dissimilar spatial tuning. Moderate further transformation of translation signals occurs in the cortex, such that similar spatio-temporal properties are found in multiple cortical areas. These results suggest that the first synapse represents a key processing element in vestibular pathways, robustly shaping how self-motion is represented in central vestibular circuits and cortical areas.

Differences in Hydrogenase Gene Expression between Methanosarcina acetivorans and Methanosarcina barkeri

ABSTRACT Methanosarcina acetivorans C2A encodes three putative hydrogenases, including one cofactor F420-linked (frh) and two methanophenazine-linked (vht) enzymes. Comparison of the amino acid sequences of these putative hydrogenases to those of Methanosarcina barkeri and Methanosarcina mazei shows that each predicted subunit contains all the known residues essential for hydrogenase function. The DNA sequences upstream of the genes in M. acetivorans were aligned with those in other Methanosarcina species to identify conserved transcription and translation signals. The M. acetivorans vht promoter region is well conserved among the sequenced Methanosarcina species, while the second vht-type homolog (here called vhx) and frh promoters have only limited similarity. To experimentally determine whether these promoters are functional in vivo, we constructed and characterized both M. acetivorans and M. barkeri strains carrying reporter gene fusions to each of the M. acetivorans and M. barkeri hydrogenase promoters. Generally, the M. acetivorans gene fusions are not expressed in either organism, suggesting that cis-acting mutations inactivated the M. acetivorans promoters. The M. barkeri hydrogenase gene fusions, on the other hand, are expressed in both organisms, indicating that M. acetivorans possesses the machinery to express hydrogenases, although it does not express its own hydrogenases. These data are consistent with specific inactivation of the M. acetivorans hydrogenase promoters and highlight the importance of testing hypotheses generated by using genomic data.

Predicting Coding Potential from Genome Sequence: Application to Betaherpesviruses Infecting Rats and Mice

ABSTRACT Prediction of protein-coding regions and other features of primary DNA sequence have greatly contributed to experimental biology. Significant challenges remain in genome annotation methods, including the identification of small or overlapping genes and the assessment of mRNA splicing or unconventional translation signals in expression. We have employed a combined analysis of compositional biases and conservation together with frame-specific G+C representation to reevaluate and annotate the genome sequences of mouse and rat cytomegaloviruses. Our analysis predicts that there are at least 34 protein-coding regions in these genomes that were not apparent in earlier annotation efforts. These include 17 single-exon genes, three new exons of previously identified genes, a newly identified four-exon gene for a lectin-like protein (in rat cytomegalovirus), and 10 probable frameshift extensions of previously annotated genes. This expanded set of candidate genes provides an additional basis for investigation in cytomegalovirus biology and pathogenesis.

Introduction of Peptidase Genes from Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis into Lactococcus lactis and Controlled Expression

ABSTRACT Peptidases PepI, PepL, PepW, and PepG from Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis, which have no counterparts in Lactococcus lactis, and peptidase PepQ were examined to determine their potential to confer new peptidolytic properties to lactococci. Controllable expression of the corresponding genes (pep genes) was achieved by constructing translational fusions with the promoter of the nisA gene (P nisA ). A suitable host strain, UKLc10, was constructed by chromosomal integration of the genes encoding the NisRK two-component system into the fivefold peptidase-deficient mutant IM16 of L. lactis. Recombinants of this strain were used to analyze growth, peptidase activities, peptide utilization, and intracellular protein cleavage products. After nisin induction ofPnisA ::pep fusions, all of the peptidases were visible as distinct bands in protein gels. Despite the fact that identical transcription and translation signals were used to express the pep genes, the relative amounts of individual peptidases varied considerably. All of the peptidases exhibited activities in extracts of recombinant UKLc10 clones, but only PepL and PepG allowed the clones to utilize specific peptide substrates as sources of essential amino acids. In milk medium, induction ofpepG and induction of pepW resulted in growth acceleration. The activities of all five peptidases during growth in milk medium were revealed by high-performance liquid chromatography analyses of intracellular amino acid and peptide pools.