Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay maintains translational fidelity by limiting magnesium uptake

Inactivation of the yeast nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway stabilizes nonsense mRNAs and promotes readthrough of premature translation termination codons. Although the latter phenotype is thought to reflect a direct role of NMD factors in translation termination, its mechanism is unknown....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genes & development 2010-07, Vol.24 (14), p.1491-1495
Main Authors: Johansson, Marcus J O, Jacobson, Allan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Cation Transport Proteins - genetics
Codon, Nonsense
Magnesium - metabolism
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Protein Biosynthesis
Research Communication
RNA Stability
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - metabolism
Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins - genetics
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Summary:Inactivation of the yeast nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway stabilizes nonsense mRNAs and promotes readthrough of premature translation termination codons. Although the latter phenotype is thought to reflect a direct role of NMD factors in translation termination, its mechanism is unknown. Here we show that the reduced termination efficiency of NMD-deficient cells is attributable to increased expression of the magnesium transporter Alr1p and the resulting effects of elevated Mg(2+) levels on termination fidelity. Alr1p levels increase because an upstream ORF in ALR1 mRNA targets the transcript for NMD. Our results demonstrate that NMD, at least in yeast, controls Mg(2+) homeostasis and, consequently, translational fidelity.
ISSN:0890-9369
1549-5477
1549-5477
DOI:10.1101/gad.1930710