Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Molecular and Cellular Biology logoLink to Molecular and Cellular Biology
. 1996 Dec;16(12):6993–7003. doi: 10.1128/mcb.16.12.6993

Repression of gene expression by an exogenous sequence element acting in concert with a heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein-like protein, Nrd1, and the putative helicase Sen1.

E J Steinmetz 1, D A Brow 1
PMCID: PMC231703  PMID: 8943355

Abstract

We have fortuitously identified a nucleotide sequence that decreases expression of a reporter gene in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae 20-fold when inserted into an intron. The primary effect of the insertion is a decrease in pre-mRNA abundance accompanied by the appearance of 3'-truncated transcripts, consistent with premature transcriptional termination and/or pre-mRNA degradation. Point mutations in the cis element relieve the negative effect, demonstrating its sequence specificity. A novel yeast protein, named Nrd1, and a previously identified putative helicase, Sen1, help mediate the negative effect of the cis element. Sen1 is an essential nuclear protein that has been implicated in a variety of nuclear functions. Nrd1 has hallmarks of a heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein, including an RNA recognition motif, a region rich in RE and RS dipeptides, and a proline- and glutamine-rich domain. An N-terminal domain of Nrd1 may facilitate direct interaction with RNA polymerase II. Disruption of the NRD1 gene is lethal, yet C-terminal truncations that delete the RNA recognition motif and abrogate the negative effect of the cis element nevertheless support cell growth. Thus, expression of a gene containing the cis element could be regulated through modulation of the activity of Nrd1. The recent identification of Nrd1-related proteins in mammalian cells suggests that this potential regulatory pathway is widespread among eukaryotes.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (450.2 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Alani E., Subbiah S., Kleckner N. The yeast RAD50 gene encodes a predicted 153-kD protein containing a purine nucleotide-binding domain and two large heptad-repeat regions. Genetics. 1989 May;122(1):47–57. doi: 10.1093/genetics/122.1.47. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Altschul S. F., Gish W., Miller W., Myers E. W., Lipman D. J. Basic local alignment search tool. J Mol Biol. 1990 Oct 5;215(3):403–410. doi: 10.1016/S0022-2836(05)80360-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Anderson J. T., Paddy M. R., Swanson M. S. PUB1 is a major nuclear and cytoplasmic polyadenylated RNA-binding protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Cell Biol. 1993 Oct;13(10):6102–6113. doi: 10.1128/mcb.13.10.6102. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Anderson J. T., Wilson S. M., Datar K. V., Swanson M. S. NAB2: a yeast nuclear polyadenylated RNA-binding protein essential for cell viability. Mol Cell Biol. 1993 May;13(5):2730–2741. doi: 10.1128/mcb.13.5.2730. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bandziulis R. J., Swanson M. S., Dreyfuss G. RNA-binding proteins as developmental regulators. Genes Dev. 1989 Apr;3(4):431–437. doi: 10.1101/gad.3.4.431. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Birney E., Kumar S., Krainer A. R. Analysis of the RNA-recognition motif and RS and RGG domains: conservation in metazoan pre-mRNA splicing factors. Nucleic Acids Res. 1993 Dec 25;21(25):5803–5816. doi: 10.1093/nar/21.25.5803. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Brow D. A., Guthrie C. Spliceosomal RNA U6 is remarkably conserved from yeast to mammals. Nature. 1988 Jul 21;334(6179):213–218. doi: 10.1038/334213a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Burd C. G., Dreyfuss G. Conserved structures and diversity of functions of RNA-binding proteins. Science. 1994 Jul 29;265(5172):615–621. doi: 10.1126/science.8036511. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Christianson T. W., Sikorski R. S., Dante M., Shero J. H., Hieter P. Multifunctional yeast high-copy-number shuttle vectors. Gene. 1992 Jan 2;110(1):119–122. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(92)90454-w. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Czaplinski K., Weng Y., Hagan K. W., Peltz S. W. Purification and characterization of the Upf1 protein: a factor involved in translation and mRNA degradation. RNA. 1995 Aug;1(6):610–623. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Cáceres J. F., Stamm S., Helfman D. M., Krainer A. R. Regulation of alternative splicing in vivo by overexpression of antagonistic splicing factors. Science. 1994 Sep 16;265(5179):1706–1709. doi: 10.1126/science.8085156. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Dahmus M. E. Phosphorylation of the C-terminal domain of RNA polymerase II. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1995 Apr 4;1261(2):171–182. doi: 10.1016/0167-4781(94)00233-s. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Darnell J. E., Jr Variety in the level of gene control in eukaryotic cells. Nature. 1982 Jun 3;297(5865):365–371. doi: 10.1038/297365a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Das A. Control of transcription termination by RNA-binding proteins. Annu Rev Biochem. 1993;62:893–930. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.62.070193.004333. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. DeMarini D. J., Winey M., Ursic D., Webb F., Culbertson M. R. SEN1, a positive effector of tRNA-splicing endonuclease in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Cell Biol. 1992 May;12(5):2154–2164. doi: 10.1128/mcb.12.5.2154. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Dreyfuss G., Matunis M. J., Piñol-Roma S., Burd C. G. hnRNP proteins and the biogenesis of mRNA. Annu Rev Biochem. 1993;62:289–321. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.62.070193.001445. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Duan D. R., Pause A., Burgess W. H., Aso T., Chen D. Y., Garrett K. P., Conaway R. C., Conaway J. W., Linehan W. M., Klausner R. D. Inhibition of transcription elongation by the VHL tumor suppressor protein. Science. 1995 Sep 8;269(5229):1402–1406. doi: 10.1126/science.7660122. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Elliott D. J., Stutz F., Lescure A., Rosbash M. mRNA nuclear export. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 1994 Apr;4(2):305–309. doi: 10.1016/s0959-437x(05)80058-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Frank D., Guthrie C. An essential splicing factor, SLU7, mediates 3' splice site choice in yeast. Genes Dev. 1992 Nov;6(11):2112–2124. doi: 10.1101/gad.6.11.2112. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Fry D. C., Kuby S. A., Mildvan A. S. ATP-binding site of adenylate kinase: mechanistic implications of its homology with ras-encoded p21, F1-ATPase, and other nucleotide-binding proteins. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Feb;83(4):907–911. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.4.907. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Fu X. D. The superfamily of arginine/serine-rich splicing factors. RNA. 1995 Sep;1(7):663–680. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Good P. J. A conserved family of elav-like genes in vertebrates. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1995 May 9;92(10):4557–4561. doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.10.4557. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Gorbalenya A. E., Koonin E. V., Donchenko A. P., Blinov V. M. Two related superfamilies of putative helicases involved in replication, recombination, repair and expression of DNA and RNA genomes. Nucleic Acids Res. 1989 Jun 26;17(12):4713–4730. doi: 10.1093/nar/17.12.4713. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Greenblatt J., Nodwell J. R., Mason S. W. Transcriptional antitermination. Nature. 1993 Jul 29;364(6436):401–406. doi: 10.1038/364401a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Hamer D. H., Thiele D. J., Lemontt J. E. Function and autoregulation of yeast copperthionein. Science. 1985 May 10;228(4700):685–690. doi: 10.1126/science.3887570. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Hodgman T. C. A new superfamily of replicative proteins. Nature. 1988 May 5;333(6168):22–23. doi: 10.1038/333022b0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Hoffman C. S., Winston F. A ten-minute DNA preparation from yeast efficiently releases autonomous plasmids for transformation of Escherichia coli. Gene. 1987;57(2-3):267–272. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(87)90131-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Kenan D. J., Query C. C., Keene J. D. RNA recognition: towards identifying determinants of specificity. Trends Biochem Sci. 1991 Jun;16(6):214–220. doi: 10.1016/0968-0004(91)90088-d. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Kibel A., Iliopoulos O., DeCaprio J. A., Kaelin W. G., Jr Binding of the von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor protein to Elongin B and C. Science. 1995 Sep 8;269(5229):1444–1446. doi: 10.1126/science.7660130. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Koonin E. V. A new group of putative RNA helicases. Trends Biochem Sci. 1992 Dec;17(12):495–497. doi: 10.1016/0968-0004(92)90338-a. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Lee F. J., Moss J. An RNA-binding protein gene (RBP1) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes a putative glucose-repressible protein containing two RNA recognition motifs. J Biol Chem. 1993 Jul 15;268(20):15080–15087. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Leeds P., Wood J. M., Lee B. S., Culbertson M. R. Gene products that promote mRNA turnover in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Cell Biol. 1992 May;12(5):2165–2177. doi: 10.1128/mcb.12.5.2165. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Legrain P., Rosbash M. Some cis- and trans-acting mutants for splicing target pre-mRNA to the cytoplasm. Cell. 1989 May 19;57(4):573–583. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90127-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Lesser C. F., Guthrie C. Mutational analysis of pre-mRNA splicing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a sensitive new reporter gene, CUP1. Genetics. 1993 Apr;133(4):851–863. doi: 10.1093/genetics/133.4.851. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Lesser C. F., Guthrie C. Mutations in U6 snRNA that alter splice site specificity: implications for the active site. Science. 1993 Dec 24;262(5142):1982–1988. doi: 10.1126/science.8266093. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Liu X., Mertz J. E. HnRNP L binds a cis-acting RNA sequence element that enables intron-dependent gene expression. Genes Dev. 1995 Jul 15;9(14):1766–1780. doi: 10.1101/gad.9.14.1766. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Matunis M. J., Matunis E. L., Dreyfuss G. PUB1: a major yeast poly(A)+ RNA-binding protein. Mol Cell Biol. 1993 Oct;13(10):6114–6123. doi: 10.1128/mcb.13.10.6114. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Mayeda A., Krainer A. R. Regulation of alternative pre-mRNA splicing by hnRNP A1 and splicing factor SF2. Cell. 1992 Jan 24;68(2):365–375. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90477-t. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Michael W. M., Choi M., Dreyfuss G. A nuclear export signal in hnRNP A1: a signal-mediated, temperature-dependent nuclear protein export pathway. Cell. 1995 Nov 3;83(3):415–422. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(95)90119-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Nagai K., Oubridge C., Ito N., Avis J., Evans P. The RNP domain: a sequence-specific RNA-binding domain involved in processing and transport of RNA. Trends Biochem Sci. 1995 Jun;20(6):235–240. doi: 10.1016/s0968-0004(00)89024-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Negishi Y., Nishita Y., Saëgusa Y., Kakizaki I., Galli I., Kihara F., Tamai K., Miyajima N., Iguchi-Ariga S. M., Ariga H. Identification and cDNA cloning of single-stranded DNA binding proteins that interact with the region upstream of the human c-myc gene. Oncogene. 1994 Apr;9(4):1133–1143. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  42. Nevins J. R. The pathway of eukaryotic mRNA formation. Annu Rev Biochem. 1983;52:441–466. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.52.070183.002301. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  43. Page B. D., Snyder M. CIK1: a developmentally regulated spindle pole body-associated protein important for microtubule functions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genes Dev. 1992 Aug;6(8):1414–1429. doi: 10.1101/gad.6.8.1414. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  44. Parker R., Siliciano P. G., Guthrie C. Recognition of the TACTAAC box during mRNA splicing in yeast involves base pairing to the U2-like snRNA. Cell. 1987 Apr 24;49(2):229–239. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90564-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  45. Pikielny C. W., Rosbash M. mRNA splicing efficiency in yeast and the contribution of nonconserved sequences. Cell. 1985 May;41(1):119–126. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90066-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  46. Piñol-Roma S., Dreyfuss G. Shuttling of pre-mRNA binding proteins between nucleus and cytoplasm. Nature. 1992 Feb 20;355(6362):730–732. doi: 10.1038/355730a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  47. Platt T. Rho and RNA: models for recognition and response. Mol Microbiol. 1994 Mar;11(6):983–990. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1994.tb00376.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  48. Ripmaster T. L., Woolford J. L., Jr A protein containing conserved RNA-recognition motifs is associated with ribosomal subunits in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Nucleic Acids Res. 1993 Jul 11;21(14):3211–3216. doi: 10.1093/nar/21.14.3211. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  49. Robinow S., Campos A. R., Yao K. M., White K. The elav gene product of Drosophila, required in neurons, has three RNP consensus motifs. Science. 1988 Dec 16;242(4885):1570–1572. doi: 10.1126/science.3144044. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  50. Rose M. D., Novick P., Thomas J. H., Botstein D., Fink G. R. A Saccharomyces cerevisiae genomic plasmid bank based on a centromere-containing shuttle vector. Gene. 1987;60(2-3):237–243. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(87)90232-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  51. Rothstein R. Targeting, disruption, replacement, and allele rescue: integrative DNA transformation in yeast. Methods Enzymol. 1991;194:281–301. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(91)94022-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  52. Russo P., Sherman F. Transcription terminates near the poly(A) site in the CYC1 gene of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Nov;86(21):8348–8352. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.21.8348. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  53. Schiestl R. H., Gietz R. D. High efficiency transformation of intact yeast cells using single stranded nucleic acids as a carrier. Curr Genet. 1989 Dec;16(5-6):339–346. doi: 10.1007/BF00340712. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  54. Schneiter R., Kadowaki T., Tartakoff A. M. mRNA transport in yeast: time to reinvestigate the functions of the nucleolus. Mol Biol Cell. 1995 Apr;6(4):357–370. doi: 10.1091/mbc.6.4.357. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  55. Sikorski R. S., Hieter P. A system of shuttle vectors and yeast host strains designed for efficient manipulation of DNA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics. 1989 May;122(1):19–27. doi: 10.1093/genetics/122.1.19. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  56. Soulard M., Della Valle V., Siomi M. C., Piñol-Roma S., Codogno P., Bauvy C., Bellini M., Lacroix J. C., Monod G., Dreyfuss G. hnRNP G: sequence and characterization of a glycosylated RNA-binding protein. Nucleic Acids Res. 1993 Sep 11;21(18):4210–4217. doi: 10.1093/nar/21.18.4210. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  57. Spencer C. A., Groudine M. Transcription elongation and eukaryotic gene regulation. Oncogene. 1990 Jun;5(6):777–785. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  58. Story R. M., Steitz T. A. Structure of the recA protein-ADP complex. Nature. 1992 Jan 23;355(6358):374–376. doi: 10.1038/355374a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  59. Sun Q., Mayeda A., Hampson R. K., Krainer A. R., Rottman F. M. General splicing factor SF2/ASF promotes alternative splicing by binding to an exonic splicing enhancer. Genes Dev. 1993 Dec;7(12B):2598–2608. doi: 10.1101/gad.7.12b.2598. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  60. Tian Q., Streuli M., Saito H., Schlossman S. F., Anderson P. A polyadenylate binding protein localized to the granules of cytolytic lymphocytes induces DNA fragmentation in target cells. Cell. 1991 Nov 1;67(3):629–639. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90536-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  61. Ursic D., DeMarini D. J., Culbertson M. R. Inactivation of the yeast Sen1 protein affects the localization of nucleolar proteins. Mol Gen Genet. 1995 Dec 20;249(6):571–584. doi: 10.1007/BF00418026. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  62. Vijayraghavan U., Parker R., Tamm J., Iimura Y., Rossi J., Abelson J., Guthrie C. Mutations in conserved intron sequences affect multiple steps in the yeast splicing pathway, particularly assembly of the spliceosome. EMBO J. 1986 Jul;5(7):1683–1695. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04412.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  63. Wilson S. M., Datar K. V., Paddy M. R., Swedlow J. R., Swanson M. S. Characterization of nuclear polyadenylated RNA-binding proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J Cell Biol. 1994 Dec;127(5):1173–1184. doi: 10.1083/jcb.127.5.1173. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  64. Yang X., Bani M. R., Lu S. J., Rowan S., Ben-David Y., Chabot B. The A1 and A1B proteins of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoparticles modulate 5' splice site selection in vivo. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994 Jul 19;91(15):6924–6928. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.15.6924. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  65. Yuryev A., Patturajan M., Litingtung Y., Joshi R. V., Gentile C., Gebara M., Corden J. L. The C-terminal domain of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II interacts with a novel set of serine/arginine-rich proteins. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Jul 9;93(14):6975–6980. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.14.6975. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Molecular and Cellular Biology are provided here courtesy of Taylor & Francis

RESOURCES