Project description:A majority of metazoan mRNAs are under microRNA (miRNA)/Argonaute (Ago)-mediated control of RNA stability at the post-transcriptional level. Although the molecular mechanism of the miRNA-mediated repression of target mRNAs through Ago/TNRC6 pathway have been largely elucidated, however, the existence of alternative TNRC6-independent miRNA-mediated post-transcriptional gene regulation pathway remains unknown. Here, we suggest that endogenous miRNAs (endo-miRNAs) can downregulate the target mRNAs via the alternative molecular pathway, Ago-associated UPF1/SMG7, core mediators of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. Global analyses of mRNAs in a response to UPF1 RNA interference in miRNA-deficient cells reveal that 3’UTR-length-dependent mRNA decay by UPF1 requires endo-miRNA targeting via CUG motif. The repression of miRNA targets is more additively or synergistically accomplished by combination of Ago2 and UPF1 through UPF1-associated SMG7, recruiting CCR4-NOT deadenylase complex, in TNRC6-independent manner. We expect that the new miRNA-mediated mRNA decay pathway enables the miRNA targeting to become more predictable and expand the miRNA-mRNA regulatory network.
Project description:Eukaryotic 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 features two-factor authentication involving UPF1 phosphorylation and SMG5-SMG7 recruitment to access SMG6 activity.
Project description:Analysis of cellular NMD (Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay) substrates that regulated by Upf1, SMG5, SMG7 and/or PNRC2 in HeLa cell. The hypothesis tested in the present study was that endogenous NMD substrates may co-regulated by Upf1, SMG5, SMG7 and PNRC2. Total RNA obtained from HeLa cells with downregulation of Upf1, SMG5, PNRC2 or SMG7 by siRNA. The up- or down-regulated transcripts were compare to control siRNA treated HeLa cell RNA extract. Significant transcripts were confirmed by replication
Project description:Analysis of cellular NMD (Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay) substrates that regulated by Upf1, SMG5, SMG7 and/or PNRC2 in HeLa cell. The hypothesis tested in the present study was that endogenous NMD substrates may co-regulated by Upf1, SMG5, SMG7 and PNRC2.
Project description:Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) controls the quality of eukaryotic gene expression and also degrades physiologic mRNAs. How NMD targets are identified is incompletely understood. A central NMD factor is the ATP-dependent RNA helicase UPF1. Neither the distance in space between the termination codon and the poly(A) tail nor the binding of steady-state, largely hypophosphorylated UPF1 is a discriminating marker of cellular NMD targets, unlike for PTC-containing reporter mRNAs when compared to their PTC-free counterparts. Here, we map phosphorylated UPF1 (p-UPF1) binding sites using transcriptome-wide footprinting or DNA oligonucleotide-directed mRNA cleavage to report that p-UPF1 provides the first reliable cellular NMD-target marker. p-UPF1 is enriched on NMD target 3'UTRs along with SMG5 and SMG7 but not SMG1 or SMG6. Immunoprecipitations of UPF1 variants deficient in various aspects of the NMD process in parallel with FRET experiments reveal that ATPase/helicase-deficient UPF1 manifests high levels of RNA binding and disregulated hyperphosphorylation, whereas wild-type UPF1 releases from nonspecific RNA interactions in an ATP hydrolysis-dependent mechanism until an NMD target is identified. 3'UTR-associated UPF1 undergoes regulated phosphorylation on NMD targets, providing a binding platform for mRNA degradative activities. p-UPF1 binding to NMD target 3'UTRs is stabilized by SMG5 and SMG7. Our results help to explain why steady-state UPF1 binding is not a marker for cellular NMD substrates and how this binding is transformed to induce mRNA decay. RIP-seq experiments for p-UPF1, control IPs using rabbit IgG and additional control sample without IP were performed in duplicates
Project description:Mature mRNAs undergo quality control during translation that may lead to RNA degradation by triggering the nonsense mediated decay (NMD) pathway. Aberrant translation due to features such as the presence of a premature stop codon downstream on an exon-exon junction or an intron in the 3'UTR activates NMD. However, many of the features that lead to the activation of this pathway are unclear. UPF1, an RNA helicase, is the core NMD factor. UPF1 forms a multi-protein complex by recruiting a series of factors and other protein complexes in a process that depends on the UPF1 phosphorylation-dephosphorylation cycle. Among the factors recruited by UPF1, SMG5-SMG7 and SMG6 have critical importance in executing NMD. The SMG5-SMG7 heterodimer induces the exonucleolytic degradation of the mRNA, which depends on the recruitment of deadenylation factors. SMG6 has endonucleolytic activity and cleaves the targeted transcript close to the stop codon. The redundancy between the exonucleolytic and endonucleolytic paths to achieve degradation during NMD has been previously reported in the literature. To investigate the apparent redundancy between SMG5-SMG7 and SMG6 activity and to further understand the features that lead to the activation of NMD, we have generated two clones of SMG7 knockout human cells using CRISPR-Cas9. We generated mRNA-Sequencing data for control and both SMG7 KO clones with additional siRNA-mediated knockdown of Luciferase (Luc) as control, SMG5 or SMG6.
Project description:Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) controls the quality of eukaryotic gene expression and also degrades physiologic mRNAs. How NMD targets are identified is incompletely understood. A central NMD factor is the ATP-dependent RNA helicase UPF1. Neither the distance in space between the termination codon and the poly(A) tail nor the binding of steady-state, largely hypophosphorylated UPF1 is a discriminating marker of cellular NMD targets, unlike for PTC-containing reporter mRNAs when compared to their PTC-free counterparts. Here, we map phosphorylated UPF1 (p-UPF1) binding sites using transcriptome-wide footprinting or DNA oligonucleotide-directed mRNA cleavage to report that p-UPF1 provides the first reliable cellular NMD-target marker. p-UPF1 is enriched on NMD target 3'UTRs along with SMG5 and SMG7 but not SMG1 or SMG6. Immunoprecipitations of UPF1 variants deficient in various aspects of the NMD process in parallel with FRET experiments reveal that ATPase/helicase-deficient UPF1 manifests high levels of RNA binding and disregulated hyperphosphorylation, whereas wild-type UPF1 releases from nonspecific RNA interactions in an ATP hydrolysis-dependent mechanism until an NMD target is identified. 3'UTR-associated UPF1 undergoes regulated phosphorylation on NMD targets, providing a binding platform for mRNA degradative activities. p-UPF1 binding to NMD target 3'UTRs is stabilized by SMG5 and SMG7. Our results help to explain why steady-state UPF1 binding is not a marker for cellular NMD substrates and how this binding is transformed to induce mRNA decay.
Project description:Gene expression profiling of immortalized human mesenchymal stem cells with hTERT/E6/E7 transfected MSCs. hTERT may change gene expression in MSCs. Goal was to determine the gene expressions of immortalized MSCs.
Project description:Kynureninase is a member of a large family of catalytically diverse but structurally homologous pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzymes known as the aspartate aminotransferase superfamily or alpha-family. The Homo sapiens and other eukaryotic constitutive kynureninases preferentially catalyze the hydrolytic cleavage of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine to produce 3-hydroxyanthranilate and l-alanine, while l-kynurenine is the substrate of many prokaryotic inducible kynureninases. The human enzyme was cloned with an N-terminal hexahistidine tag, expressed, and purified from a bacterial expression system using Ni metal ion affinity chromatography. Kinetic characterization of the recombinant enzyme reveals classic Michaelis-Menten behavior, with a Km of 28.3 +/- 1.9 microM and a specific activity of 1.75 micromol min-1 mg-1 for 3-hydroxy-dl-kynurenine. Crystals of recombinant kynureninase that diffracted to 2.0 A were obtained, and the atomic structure of the PLP-bound holoenzyme was determined by molecular replacement using the Pseudomonas fluorescens kynureninase structure (PDB entry 1qz9) as the phasing model. A structural superposition with the P. fluorescens kynureninase revealed that these two structures resemble the "open" and "closed" conformations of aspartate aminotransferase. The comparison illustrates the dynamic nature of these proteins' small domains and reveals a role for Arg-434 similar to its role in other AAT alpha-family members. Docking of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine into the human kynureninase active site suggests that Asn-333 and His-102 are involved in substrate binding and molecular discrimination between inducible and constitutive kynureninase substrates.