In eukaryotes, mRNA decay pathways are important for cellular response to various physiological conditions and also function in co-translational quality control systems that target translationally aberrant mRNAs for degradation. My work on identification and characterization of novel components and pathways of mRNA degradation and quality control in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is summarized below.I have identified Edc3p as a novel protein important for mRNA decay. Deletion of Edc3p leads to a defect in mRNA decay in strains deficient in decapping enzymes and, in combination with a block to the 3' to 5' decay pathway, causes exaggerated growth defects and synthetic lethality. An Edc3p-GFP fusion protein localizes in processing bodies, which are specialized cytoplasmic foci containing decapping proteins. Together, these observations indicate that Edc3p directly interacts with the decapping complex to stimulate the mRNA decapping rate.Quality control during mRNA translation is critical for regulation of gene expression. My work shows that yeast mRNAs with defects in translation elongation, due to strong translational pauses, are recognized and targeted for degradation via an endonucleolytic cleavage in a novel process referred to as No-Go Decay (NGD). The cellular mRNA decay machinery degrades the 5' and 3' cleavage products produced by NGD. NGD is translation-dependent, occurs in a range of mRNAs and can be induced by a variety of elongation pauses. These results indicate NGD may occur at some rate in response to any stalled ribosome.I also show that two highly conserved proteins, Dom34p and Hbs1p, homologous to the eukaryotic release factors eRF1 and eRF3 respectively, are required for NGD. Further characterization of the No-Go decay pathway indicates that Dom34p function during NGD is conserved across species. Identification of RPS30, a small ribosomal protein as a trans-acting factor during NGD suggests that the ribosome may have a novel role during NGD. Other experiments indicate that the No-Go decay pathway may cross talk with the unfolded protein response pathway. The identification of No-Go decay as a novel quality control pathway during translation elongation supports the existence of a global cellular mechanism for maintenance of translational quality control.

The exosome, an evolutionarily conserved protein complex with exoribonucleolytic activity, is one of the key players in mRNA quality control. Little is known about the functions of the exosome in metazoans. We have studied the role of the exosome in nuclear mRNA surveillance using Chironomus tentans and Drosophila melanogaster as model systems. Studies of the exosome subunits Rrp4 and Rrp6 revealed that both proteins are associated with transcribed genes and nascent pre-mRNPs in C. tentans. We have shown that several exosome subunits interact in vivo with the mRNA-binding protein Hrp59/hnRNP M, and that depleting Hrp59 in D. melanogaster S2 cells by RNAi leads to reduced levels of Rrp4 at the transcription sites. Our results on Rrp4 suggest a model for cotranscriptional quality control in which the exosome is constantly recruited to nascent mRNAs through interactions with specific hnRNP proteins. Moreover, we show that Rrp6 interacts with mRNPs in transit from the gene to the nuclear pore complex, where it is released during early stages of nucleo-cytoplasmic translocation. Furthermore, we show that Rrp6 is enriched in discrete nuclear bodies in the salivary glands of C. tentans and D. melanogaster. In C. tentans, the Rrp6-rich nuclear bodies colocalize with SUMO. We have also constructed D. melanogaster S2 cells expressing human b-globin genes, with either wild type of mutated splice sites, and we have studied the mechanisms by which the cells react to pre-mRNA processing defects. Our results indicate that two surveillance responses operate co-transcriptionally in S2 cells. One requires Rrp6 and retains defective mRNAs at the transcription site. The other one reduces the synthesis of the defective transcripts through a mechanism that involves histone modifications. These observations support the view that multiple mechanisms contribute to co-transcriptional surveillance in insects. / At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript.