mRNA Sequence Features Determine the Efficiency of Translation Termination and Association of the Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay Machinery with Elongating Ribosomes
Mangkalaphiban, Kotchaphorn
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Abstract
Translation of mRNA into protein is terminated when the ribosome encounters one of the three stop codons (UAA, UAG, and UGA) at the end of an open reading frame (ORF). Infrequently, stop codons are decoded by a near- cognate tRNA, allowing “readthrough” of the stop codon and synthesis of an extended polypeptide. When termination occurs prematurely, the mRNA is degraded by the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway. Premature and normal termination appear to differ in their efficiency, but the exact “rules” of how NMD distinguishes them mechanistically remain to be elucidated. Using ribosome profiling and bioinformatics analyses, this study aims to understand, at a transcriptome-wide level, the cis-acting elements that influence termination efficiency and how premature termination is recognized by Upf1, a key NMD factor. Analyses of yeast and human mRNA sequences in both normal and readthrough- inducing conditions revealed largely conserved roles of identities of the stop codon, the following nucleotide, P-site codon, and 3’-UTR length in readthrough efficiency regulation. The analyses of yeast mRNAs associated with Upf1-bound ribosomes demonstrated that Upf1 binds ribosomes in two distinct complexes across all mRNA ORFs, suggesting that Upf1 associates with the ribosome during translation elongation before premature termination takes place. Together, these results provide insights into the regulation of termination and the early steps of NMD at the transcriptome-wide level.