Long open reading frame transcripts escape nonsense-mediated mRNA decay in yeast

Laurence Decourty (1) , Antonia Doyen (1) , Christophe Malabat (1) , Emmanuel Frachon (2) , Delphine Rispal (3) , Bertrand Séraphin (3) , Frank Feuerbach (1) , Alain Jacquier (1) , Cosmin Saveanu (1)

1 Génétique des Interactions macromoléculaires
2 Production de Protéines Recombinantes et d'Anticorps (Plate-Forme)
3 IGBMC - Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) destabilizes eukaryotic transcripts with long 3' UTRs. To investigate whether other transcript features affect NMD, we generated yeast strains expressing chromosomal-derived mRNAs with 979 different promoter and open reading frame (ORF) regions and with the same long, destabilizing 3' UTR. We developed a barcode-based DNA microarray strategy to compare the levels of each reporter mRNA in strains with or without active NMD. The size of the coding region had a significant negative effect on NMD efficiency. This effect was not specific to the tested 3' UTR because two other different NMD reporters became less sensitive to NMD when ORF length was increased. Inefficient NMD was not due to a lack of association of Upf1 to long ORF transcripts. In conclusion, in addition to a long 3' UTR, short translation length is an important feature of NMD substrates in yeast.

Keywords: 3' Untranslated Regions; Gene Expression Regulation; Fungal; Nonsense Mediated mRNA Decay; Open Reading Frames; RNA Helicases; RNA; Messenger; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Biochemistry, Molecular Biology; Molecular biology

Laurence Decourty, Antonia Doyen, Christophe Malabat, Emmanuel Frachon, Delphine Rispal, et al.. Long open reading frame transcripts escape nonsense-mediated mRNA decay in yeast. Cell Reports, 2014, 6 (4), pp.593--598. ⟨10.1016/j.celrep.2014.01.025⟩. ⟨pasteur-01404015⟩