Measurement of mRNA Decay Rates in <em>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</em> Using <em>rpb1-1</em> Strains

mRNA steady state levels vary depending on environmental conditions. Regulation of the steady state accumulation levels of an mRNA ensures that the ...

Baylor University

The dimorphic fungus Candida albicans produces farnesol as a quorum-sensing molecule that regulates cellular morphology. The biosynthetic origin of farnesol has been resolved by treating these cells with zaragozic acid B, a potent inhibitor of squalene synthase in the sterol biosynthetic pathway. Treatment with zaragozic acid B leads to an eightfold increase in the amount of farnesol produced by C. albicans. Furthermore, C. albicans cell extracts contain enzymatic activity to convert [(3)H]farnesyl pyrophosphate to [(3)H]farnesol. Many common antifungal antibiotics (e.g., zaragozic acids, azoles, and allylamines) target steps in sterol biosynthesis. We suggest that the fungicidal activity of zaragozic acid derives in large part from the accumulation of farnesol that accompanies the inhibition of sterol biosynthesis.

Farnesol biosynthesis in Candida albicans: cellular response to sterol inhibition by zaragozic acid B.

A method for determining mRNA half-lives in the polymorphic fungus Candida albicans is described. It employs growth in a defined medium, the inhibition of transcription with thiolutin (10-20 microg/mL), and quantitative Northern blotting. The method is effective for the A72, SC5314, and CAI-4 strains of C. albicans, and for mRNAs that have a wide variety of decay rates and steady-state abundances. The range of half-lives detected (from 4-168 min) shows that this method is effective for mRNAs with widely varying half-lives. The mRNA decay rates obtained are compared with those for orthologous mRNAs from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This procedure should work for a broad range of C. albicans strains and can be adapted to other fungal species.

Determination of mRNA half-lives in Candida albicans using thiolutin as a transcription inhibitor.

Candida albicans is a dimorphic fungus that can interconvert between yeast and filamentous forms. Its ability to regulate morphogenesis is strongly correlated with virulence. Tup1, a transcriptional repressor, and the signaling molecule farnesol are both capable of negatively regulating the yeast to filamentous conversion. Based on this overlap in function, we tested the hypothesis that the cellular response to farnesol involves, in part, the activation of Tup1. Tup1 functions with the DNA binding proteins Nrg1 and Rfg1 as a transcription regulator to repress the expression of hypha-specific genes. The tup1/tup1 and nrg1/nrg1 mutants, but not the rfg1/rfg1 mutant, failed to respond to farnesol. Treatment of C. albicans cells with farnesol caused a small but consistent increase in both TUP1 mRNA and protein levels. Importantly, this increase corresponds with the commitment point, beyond which added farnesol no longer blocks germ tube formation, and it correlates with a strong decrease in the expression of two Tup1-regulated hypha-specific genes, HWP1 and RBT1. Tup1 probably plays a direct role in the response to farnesol because farnesol suppresses the haploinsufficient phenotype of a TUP1/tup1 heterozygote. Farnesol did not affect EFG1 (a transcription regulator of filament development), NRG1, or RFG1 mRNA levels, demonstrating specific gene regulation in response to farnesol. Furthermore, the tup1/tup1 and nrg1/nrg1 mutants produced 17- and 19-fold more farnesol, respectively, than the parental strain. These levels of excess farnesol are sufficient to block filamentation in a wild-type strain. Our data are consistent with the role of Tup1 as a crucial component of the response to farnesol in C. albicans.

Candida albicans Tup1 is involved in farnesol-mediated inhibition of filamentous-growth induction.

Colonization by the fungal pathogen Candida albicans varies significantly, depending upon the pH and availability of oxygen. Because of our interest in extracellular molecules as potential quorum-sensing molecules, we examined the physiological conditions which regulate the production of the aromatic alcohols, i.e., phenethyl alcohol, tyrosol, and tryptophol. The production of these fusel oils has been well studied for Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Our data show that aromatic alcohol yields for C. albicans are determined by growth conditions. These conditions include the availability of aromatic amino acids, the pH, oxygen levels, and the presence of ammonium salts. For example, for wild-type C. albicans, tyrosol production varied 16-fold merely with the inclusion of tyrosine or ammonium salts in the growth medium. Aromatic alcohol production also depends on the transcription regulator Aro80p. Our results are consistent with aromatic alcohol production-aromatic transaminases (gene products for ARO8 and ARO9), aromatic decarboxylase (ARO10), and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH)-via the fusel oil pathway. The expression of ARO8, ARO9, and ARO10 is also pH dependent. ARO8 and ARO9 were alkaline upregulated, while ARO10 was alkaline downregulated. The alkaline-dependent change in expression of ARO8 was Rim101 independent, while the expression of ARO9 was Rim101 dependent.

Regulation of aromatic alcohol production in Candida albicans.

The nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway, present in most eukaryotic cells, is a specialized pathway that leads to the recognition and rapid degradation of mRNAs with premature termination codons and, importantly, some wild-type mRNAs. Earlier studies demonstrated that aberrant mRNAs with artificially extended 3'-untranslated regions (3'-UTRs) are degraded by NMD. However, the extent to which wild-type mRNAs with long 3'-UTRs are degraded by NMD is not known. We used a global approach to identify wild-type mRNAs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that have longer than expected 3'-UTRs, and of these mRNAs tested, 91% were degraded by NMD. We demonstrate for the first time that replacement of the natural, long 3'-UTR from wild-type PGA1 mRNA, which encodes a protein that is important for cell wall biosynthesis, with a short 3'-UTR renders it immune to NMD. The natural PGA1 3'-UTR is sufficient to target a NMD insensitive mRNA for decay by the NMD pathway. Finally, we show that nmd mutants are sensitive to Calcofluor White, which suggests that the regulation of PGA1 and other cell wall biosynthesis proteins by NMD is physiologically significant.

Long 3'-UTRs target wild-type mRNAs for nonsense-mediated mRNA decay in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The eukaryotic nonsense-mediated mRNA (NMD) is a specialized pathway that leads to the recognition and rapid degradation of mRNAs with premature termination codons, and importantly some natural mRNAs as well. Natural mRNAs with atypically long 3'-untranslated regions (UTRs) are degraded by NMD in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A number of S. cerevisiae mRNAs undergo alternative 3'-end processing producing mRNA isoforms that differ in their 3'-UTR lengths. Some of these alternatively 3'-end processed mRNA isoforms have atypically long 3'-UTRs and would be likely targets for NMD-mediated degradation. Here, we investigated the role NMD plays in the regulation of expression of CTR2, which encodes a vacuolar membrane copper transporter. CTR2 pre-mRNA undergoes alternative 3'-end processing to produce two mRNA isoforms with 300-nt and 2-kb 3'-UTRs. We show that both CTR2 mRNA isoforms are differentially regulated by NMD. The regulation of CTR2 mRNA by NMD has physiological consequences, since nmd mutants are more tolerant to toxic levels of copper relative to wild-type yeast cells and the copper tolerance of nmd mutants is dependent on the presence of CTR2.

Copper tolerance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae nonsense-mediated mRNA decay mutants.

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay is a highly conserved pathway that degrades mRNAs with premature termination codons. These mRNAs include mRNAs transcribed from nonsense or frameshift alleles as well as wild-type mRNA with signals that direct ribosomes to terminate prematurely. This unit describes techniques to monitor steady-state mRNA levels, decay rates, and structural features of mRNAs targeted by this pathway, as well as in vivo analysis of nonsense suppression and allosuppression in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Protocols for the structural features of mRNA include analysis of cap status, 5' and 3' untranslated region (UTR) lengths, and poly(A) tail length.

Analysis of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The eukaryotic nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway (NMD) is a specialized pathway that contributes to the recognition and rapid degradation of mRNA with premature termination codons. In addition to mRNAs containing premature termination codons, NMD degrades non-nonsense-containing, natural mRNAs. Approximately 5-10% of the total Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcriptome is affected when NMD is inactivated. The regulation of natural mRNAs by NMD has physiological consequences. However, the physiological outcomes associated with the degradation of specific natural mRNAs by NMD are not fully understood. Here, we examined the physiological consequences resulting from the NMD-mediated regulation of an mRNA involved in copper homeostasis, in an attempt to understand why nmd mutant strains are more tolerant of toxic copper levels than wild-type yeast strains. We found that wild-type (UPF1) and upf1Δ mutants accumulate similar amounts of total copper when grown in medium containing elevated levels of copper; however, the copper levels in the cytoplasm of wild-type yeast cells were higher than in the upf1Δ mutant. Copper tolerance by the upf1Δ mutant is dependent on the presence of CTR2. Deletion of CTR2 resulted in similar cytoplasmic copper levels in wild-type and upf1Δ mutant strains, regardless of the environmental copper levels. This suggests that CTR2 plays a role in regulating the level of copper in the cytoplasm. We also found that the upf1Δ mutant contained elevated copper levels in the vacuole relative to wild-type yeast cells, after both strains were exposed to elevated copper levels.

Physiological basis of copper tolerance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae nonsense-mediated mRNA decay mutants.

The nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway is a specialized mRNA degradation pathway that degrades select mRNAs. This pathway is conserved in all eukaryotes examined so far, and it triggers the degradation of mRNAs that prematurely terminate translation. Originally identified as a pathway that degrades mRNAs with premature termination codons as a result of errors during transcription, splicing, or damage to the mRNA, NMD is now also recognized as a pathway that degrades some natural mRNAs. The degradation of natural mRNAs by NMD has been identified in multiple eukaryotes, including Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Drosophila melanogaster, Arabidopsis thaliana, and humans. S. cerevisiae is used extensively as a model to study natural mRNA regulation by NMD. Inactivation of the NMD pathway in S. cerevisiae affects approximately 10% of the transcriptome. Similar percentages of natural mRNAs in the D. melanogaster and human transcriptomes are also sensitive to the pathway, indicating that NMD is important for the regulation of gene expression in multiple organisms. NMD can either directly or indirectly regulate the decay rate of natural mRNAs. Direct NMD targets possess NMD-inducing features. This minireview focuses on the regulation of natural mRNAs by the NMD pathway, as well as the features demonstrated to target these mRNAs for decay by the pathway in S. cerevisiae. We also compare NMD-targeting features identified in S. cerevisiae with known NMD-targeting features in other eukaryotic organisms.

Regulation of natural mRNAs by the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway.

The nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway was originally identified as a pathway that degrades mRNAs with premature termination codons; however, NMD is now known to regulate natural mRNAs as well. Natural mRNAs are degraded by NMD due to the presence of specific NMD targeting features. An atypically long 3'-UTR is one of the features that has been shown to induce the rapid degradation of mRNAs by NMD in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other organisms. S. cerevisiae CTR2 mRNAs have long 3'-UTRs and are sensitive to NMD, although the extent by which these long 3'-UTRs target the CTR2 mRNAs to the pathway is unknown. Here, we investigated the sequence elements that induce NMD of the CTR2 mRNAs and determined that the long CTR2 3'-UTR is sufficient to target an NMD-insensitive mRNA to the pathway. We also found that, although the CTR2 3'-UTR contributes to NMD-induced degradation, CTR2 mRNAs contain additional NMD-inducing features that function cooperatively with the atypically long 3'-UTR to trigger mRNA degradation. Lengthening the CTR2 ORF abrogates NMD and renders the mRNAs immune to the NMD pathway. Moreover, we found that transcription of CTR2 driven by the GPD promoter, which is not identical to the CTR2 promoter, affects degradation of the transcripts by NMD.

Bessie W. Kebaara

Department of Biology

Baylor University

Measurement of mRNA Decay Rates in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Using rpb1-1 Strains

Bessie W. Kebaara

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Department of Biology

Baylor University

Measurement of mRNA Decay Rates in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Using rpb1-1 Strains

Department of Biology