|
Advertisement | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 282, Issue 21, 15645-15651, May 25, 2007
The Interaction between Cap-binding Complex and RNA Export Factor Is Required for Intronless mRNA Export*
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
-globin mRNA at the region other than the EJC deposition site. Comparison between RNA polymerase II and T7 transcription and further analysis showed that the deposition of REF apart from the EJC is dependent on the 5' cap structure, but not splicing. Excess amounts of m7GpppG cap analog reduced REF binding to intronless mRNA, and a co-immunoprecipitation experiment revealed that REF interacts with the cap-binding protein CBP20. The export of Cy3-labeled intronless
-globin mRNA from nuclei of HeLa cells was enhanced by co-injection of CBP20 and REF. Thus, REF recruited by CBP20 may play a stimulatory role to export the capped intronless mRNAs. | INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
The transport of mRNA from the nucleus to the cytoplasm is linked to pre-mRNA splicing, especially in metazoans (6). Exon junction complexes (EJCs), which are deposited on mRNAs at specific sites relative to the exon junction as a consequence of splicing, form the basis of this connection (7, 8). The EJC consists of four core proteins, eIF4A3 (911), Y14 (7), Magoh (12, 13), and MLN51 (14), plus other auxiliary proteins including REF (7), UAP56 (15), RNPS1 (7), SRm160 (7), Pinin (16, 17), Acinus L (18), SAP18 (18), and hUpf3 (8, 19, 20). The recruitment of REF during mRNA biogenesis is thought to be responsible for the increased export of spliced mRNA (21). A DEAD box RNA helicase, UAP56, is required for the recruitment of REF to mRNA (15, 22). Subsequently, UAP56 is displaced from REF by the mRNA export factor TAP (23). TAP forms a heterodimer with p15 that then directly interacts with the nuclear pore to facilitate mRNP transport into the cytoplasm (24).
Although the above model explains the apparent link between splicing and RNA export in metazoans, the question of how intronless mRNAs, which lack EJC deposition, are exported to the cytoplasm naturally arises. Some intronless transcripts (e.g. histone H2A) have been reported to contain specific sequences that recruit export factors independently of splicing (25). SRp20 and 9G8, which belong to members of the evolutionarily conserved SR (serine/arginine-rich) protein family, specifically bind to a sequence in intronless mRNA and greatly facilitate the export of mRNA by recruiting TAP (26). However, the intronless mRNAs coding Ftz, dihydrofolate reductase, and
-globin, which lack such cis-acting sequences, can be effectively exported regardless of whether splicing has occurred (2729). The injection experiments of
-REF antibody into the nuclei of Xenopus oocytes indicated that REF stimulates directly the export of these intronless mRNAs (27). Mass spectrometry and Western blotting of purified spliceosomes revealed that REF is a component of H complex (30), suggesting that REF can associate with mRNAs in a splicing-independent manner. In situ analysis of green fluorescent protein-tagged REF showed its accumulation at sites of transcription (31), suggesting that REF binds to mRNA co-transcriptionally.
To clarify the recruiting mechanism of RNPs on mRNAs, we primarily developed a coupled in vitro transcription-splicing system. This in vitro system led us to discover a novel mechanism through which REF can associate with mRNA in a manner that is independent of splicing, instead of via the cap structure that is created during RNAPII transcription. The cap structure at the 5' end of mRNA is associated with the nuclear cap-binding complex (CBC), consisting of CBP20 and CBP80 (32). The microinjection of mRNAs into the living cell nuclei indicated that interaction between CBP20 and REF is required for the promotion of intronless mRNA export.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
-heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 (4B10; Abcam),
-Y14 (4C4; Abcam),
-Aly/REF (11G5; Abcam),
-FLAG (M2; Sigma), and
-m3G/m7G cap (H20; Synaptic Systems) antibodies were purchased. The
-UAP56 and
-CBP20 antibodies were kindly provided by M. Green and E. Izaurralde, respectively. The
-globin
6 and pAd-SX (Eco) DNA templates were kindly provided by A. Krainer and K. Mizumoto, respectively. The DNA template for the intronless mRNA was constructed using the QuikChange site-directed mutagenesis kit (Stratagene).
In Vitro Splicing and Coupled Transcription/Splicing AssayThe in vitro splicing reactions were performed as described by Krainer et al. (33). For the coupled reaction, the immobilized and psoralen-modified PCR product (see below, 100 ng), containing an AdMLP promoter fused to two exons and a single intron of the
-globin gene, was incubated in a 25-µl reaction mixture containing 40 mM HEPES-KOH (pH 7.9), 0.5 mM dithiothreitol, 3 mM MgCl2, 30 mM KCl, 5 mM phosphocreatine, 0.5% polyvinyl alcohol, 200 µM ATP, CTP, and GTP; 15 µM UTP, 40 µCi of [
-32P]UTP, and HeLa nuclear extract (90 µg). The PCR product was amplified from the region 300 bp upstream of the AdMLP promoter to 143 nucleotides (nt) downstream of exon 2. The reaction was performed at 30 °C for the indicated times. The remaining RNAs were purified by protein removal and ethanol precipitation. The purified RNAs were analyzed using denaturing PAGE and imaged using a phosphorimage analyzer (FLA-3000G; FUJIFILM).
Preparation of Immobilized Template DNA Modified by PsoralenTo pause the transcriptional machinery on the DNA template at a point containing a triplex targeting sequence (5'-AAAAGAAAAGGGGGG-3') in
-globin exon 2, the biotinylated PCR products were incubated with an excess (500-fold) of psoralen-modified oligonucleotide probes, P15 (5'-[PsoralenC2]TTTT[5Me-dC]TTTTGGGGGG-3'), as described by Wang and Rana (34). The biotinylated PCR products containing P15 were then mixed with streptavidin beads (M280, Dynal) and incubated in a mixture containing 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 1 mM EDTA, and 1 M NaCl at room temperature for 2 h. After immobilization, the magnetic beads were washed with and suspended in BC100 (20 mM HEPES-KOH (pH 7.9), 0.5 mM EDTA, 100 mM KCl, 20% glycerol) containing 0.05% Nonidet P-40.
RNP Release and RNA ImmunoprecipitationDeoxyoligos (final concentration, 3 µM) were added to in vitro transcription/splicing reactions and incubated at 30 °C for 15 min to enable site-specific RNA digestion by endogenous RNase H as previously described by Hirose et al. (35). Oligo R (5'-CACTCAGTGTGGCAA-3') was used to release the nascent mRNA from RNAPII. The RNA fragments released from the beads were immunoprecipitated with the indicated antibodies, and analyzed on 8% denaturing PAGE.
Pulldown Assay Using m7GTP-Sepharose7-Methyl-GTP (m7GTP)-Sepharose 4B (Amersham Biosciences, 8 nmol of ligand) was incubated with HeLa nuclear extract (
0.6 mg) in NET-2 buffer containing 3 mM MgCl2 at 4 °C for 3 h and then washed eight times with NET-2 buffer containing 3 mM MgCl2. The proteins attached to the washed Sepharose were then subjected to 12% SDS-PAGE followed by Western blotting.
Co-immunoprecipitation AnalysisImmunoprecipitation was performed using
-FLAG M2-agarose (Sigma), as described in the legend to Fig. 3C. Whole cell extracts from HEK293 cells were prepared using a PARIS kit (Ambion). The extracts containing FLAG tag proteins were incubated with RNase A (5 µg/ml) at 30 °C for 15 min prior to immunoprecipitation. For immunoblot analysis, polyclonal
-FLAG antibody (Sigma) was used as the primary antibody.
Nuclear Microinjection AnalysisThe microinjection was performed as described previously (36). Human
-globin RNA, lacking an intron and containing 5' m7GpppG cap and poly(A) sequence (25 nt), was transcribed by T7 RNA polymerase. The RNA was labeled with the TransIT Cy3 labeling kit (Mirus). The amount of Cy3 coupled with mRNA was measured at an excitation wavelength of 550 nm. The labeled RNA (0.8 µM), purified FLAG-tagged protein (
1 µM), and lysine-fixable FITC-conjugated 70-kDa dextran (1.5 mg/ml, Molecular Probe) were injected into HeLa cell nuclei, using FemtoJet and InjectMan NI2 (Eppendorf) at the conditions of injection pressure 75 hectopascal (hPa), compensation pressure 24 hPa, and injection duration 0.3 s. The injected cells were incubated at 37 °C under 5% CO2 for 10 h and analyzed under a confocal microscope (Olympus, FV1000; confocal aperture 679 µm) with UPLSAPO x40 NA:0.90 objective lens. The signals of FITC-dextran and Cy3-RNA were sequentially collected by excitation with 488 and 543 nm lasers, respectively.
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
-globin mRNA using antibodies against the EJC components and examined whether RNAPII transcription enhances the EJC deposition or not. The
-REF antibody has been reported to favorably precipitate spliced mRNAs (21). Our immunoprecipitation experiments revealed that the
-REF antibody efficiently precipitated the spliced form of the RNAPII transcripts but not the spliced form of the T7 transcripts (Fig. 1B, lanes 5 and 6). On the other hand, the
-heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 antibody comparably precipitated the unspliced and spliced RNAs as well as the transcripts of RNAPII and T7 (Fig. 1B, lanes 13 and 14). These data coincide with a recent report stating that the H complex containing heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 was easily formed on the T7 transcripts (37). These immunoprecipitation results raise the possibility that RNAPII transcription stimulates the recruitment of REF to the spliced transcripts. To determine whether REF is recruited as an EJC component, we examined the EJC deposition on spliced mRNA originating from T7 and RNAPII transcripts. The EJC is specifically formed 2024 nt upstream of the exon-exon junction of spliced mRNAs (7). When a deoxy-oligo covering -34 to -19 was added after 90 min of incubation, during which time the in vitro transcription-splicing reaction was being driven either by the T7 promoter or MLP, the spliced
-globin mRNA appeared to be resistant to RNase H, suggesting that the EJC assembly comparably occurs on both T7- and MLP-derived spliced mRNAs (data not shown).
|
-globin gene constructs in the coupled in vitro transcription-splicing reaction (Fig. 2A). EJC assembly reportedly requires at least 38 nt of the upstream exon (8). Thus, we expected that the EJC would be able to assemble on the
/177- (
/FL: full-length) and
/38-spliced RNAs but not on the
/17-spliced RNA. The co-immunoprecipitation of RNA species synthesized from the respective three
-globin templates in vitro revealed that each REF or FLAG-RNPS1 (Fig. 2B) co-precipitated
/38-spliced RNA more efficiently (2.75.9-fold) than
/17-spliced RNA (compare
/38 and
/17 in Fig. 2B). At least three EJC components were confirmed to associate at the predicted EJC binding site. Unexpectedly,
/FL-spliced RNAs were precipitated more efficiently (5.6-fold) than
/38-spliced RNA when the REF was pulled down (compare
/FL and
/38 in Fig. 2C), whereas almost the same amounts of
/FL and
/38 were precipitated with FLAG-RNPS1 (1.2-fold). FLAG-UAP56 also co-precipitated
/FL more efficiently (2.8-fold) than
/38 (supplementary Fig. S1). These data indicate that REF and UAP56 have additional binding site(s) located further upstream of -38 (hereafter referred to as the UP site), relative to the exon junction (+1).
Splicing-independent Association of REF with mRNAREF efficiently binds to mRNA independently of splicing (27). To examine whether the binding of REF to the UP site is splicing-dependent, a
-globin construct lacking introns (intronless) was used in the coupled in vitro transcription-splicing reaction and RNA fragments digested by RNase H were immunoprecipitated by an
-REF antibody. RNase H mapping revealed that REF binds to intronless mRNA upstream of the EJC deposition site (supplementary Fig. S2). These data strongly suggest the existence of two independent mechanisms of REF recruitment: 1) a splicing-dependent mechanism that acts just upstream of the exon junction (-24 to -20) and that involves the EJC, and 2) a splicing-independent mechanism acting at the UP site.
Cap-dependent Association of REF with RNACapping is a post-transcriptional RNA processing event that is coupled to RNAPII transcription. Our observations that 1)
-REF antibody preferentially precipitated RNAPII transcripts, rather than T7 transcripts (Fig. 1, B and C), and 2) REF associated with both spliced and intronless transcripts prompted us to examine the formation of the cap structure in our transcription/splicing coupling system. As expected, RNAPII transcripts were immunoprecipitated with the
-m7G cap antibody (H20) 7.0-fold more efficiently than the T7 transcripts (Fig. 3A, lane 3). This finding was consistent with previous reports stating that capping is coupled to RNAPII transcription (38, 39). Next, to examine the mechanism by which the cap structure is linked to REF recruitment, we utilized a canonical in vitro splicing system and pre-synthesized m7G-capped
-globin pre-mRNA. Immunoprecipitation using an antibody against REF revealed that REF associates with both m7G-capped spliced and intronless mRNAs under in vitro splicing conditions, even if transcription is not coupled (27). To obtain additional evidence that UP site recruitment of REF is reproduced in the in vitro splicing reaction, RNase H mapping was performed to map the REF-binding site. This analysis revealed that REF bound to the UP site of the spliced and the intronless m7G-capped mRNA even in the absence of coupling with RNAPII transcription (data not shown). These observations support our hypothesis that the cap structure, rather than RNAPII transcription itself, plays a critical role in REF recruitment at the UP site.
|
CBC-dependent REF Recruitment to Intronless mRNANext, we performed a co-immunoprecipitation analysis to examine the interaction between CBC and REF. FLAG-REF was transfected into HEK293 cells and then immunoprecipitated using an
-FLAG antibody from RNase-treated whole cell extract. A Western blot of the immunoprecipitated fraction revealed that CBP20 (Fig. 3C lane 4), but not Y14 (data not shown), was co-immunoprecipitated with FLAG-REF. As a negative control, FLAG-U2B'' was utilized for the co-immunoprecipitation experiment; however, neither CBP20, REF, nor Y14 was detected in the immunoprecipitated fraction (data not shown). All these co-immunoprecipitation experiments showed that REF interacts with the CBC in HEK293 cells.
To test whether the cap structure is essential for the intronless RNA binding of REF, we next performed a competition experiment using a cap analog (m7GpppG). As shown in Fig. 3D, excess amounts of the cap analog (100 µM) impaired the co-immunoprecipitation of the capped intronless RNA with REF, suggesting that the cap structure is required for interaction between REF and intronless mRNA. We next examined whether the cap structure was required for association of REF with spliced mRNA. Even though the in vitro splicing reaction was partially impaired by the addition of the cap analog (10 µM m7GpppG), as reported previously (40), the spliced
-globin RNAs were efficiently co-immunoprecipitated with
-REF antibody (Fig. 3E, lane 3). The relative efficiency of the co-immunoprecipitation of spliced RNA in the presence or absence of the cap analog was determined (Fig. 3E, lane 2, 100%; lane 3, 60%). The 40% diminution in immunoprecipitation can be explained by the impairment of cap-dependent REF recruitment resulting from the addition of the cap analog, but the splicing-dependent recruitment of REF into the EJC was not affected. We observed the same effect of the cap analog using another RNA template (IgM µC3-C4) (data not shown). The association of UAP56 with intronless RNA was also impaired by the cap analog (Fig. 3E, lane 12, 4%), but the association with spliced mRNA remained at a substantial level (Fig. 3E, lane 9, 58%). Interestingly, UAP56 did not bind to the m7GTP cap analog (Fig. 3B, lanes 3 and 4), even though the binding of UAP56 to intronless RNA was impaired by the cap analog (Fig. 3E, lane 12). These results suggest that UAP56 recruitment to intronless RNA may require the cap-dependent binding of REF to RNA.
|
RNP1), and used them for microinjection into HeLa cell nuclei combining with Cy3-labeled intronless
-globin mRNA, CBP20, and FITC-dextran as an injection marker. The purity and amounts of CBP20, REF-WT, and REF-
RNP1 were estimated on the Coomassie Brilliant Blue-stained gel (Fig. 4B). Cy3-labeled intronless
-globin mRNA injected with CBP20 and REF-WT was transported to cytoplasm in more than 90% of cells within 10 h (n = 26, Fig. 4C, panel b), whereas the Cy3-labeled RNA with CBP20 and REF-
RNP1 was retained in nuclei in more than 60% of injected cells during the same period (n = 33, Fig. 4C, panel f), indicating that the interaction between CBP20 and REF is required for the promotion of intronless mRNA export from the nucleus. | DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
-REF antibody may be inaccessible to REF in the CBC-REF complex under this condition.
|
receptor family but does not require the mRNA export receptor TAP (45). PHAX (phosphorylated adaptor for RNA export) acts as an adaptor that links the CBC-capped RNA complex to the CRM1-RanGTP complex (46). Because the export pathway of U1 small nuclear RNA can be switched to a TAP-mediated pathway by the insertion of a 300-nt Ftz mRNA sequence into U1 small nuclear RNA (28), the CBC-RNA complex may use either PHAX-CRM1 or REF-TAP as its mRNA export machinery, depending on the length (or structure) of the RNA.
A model for the REF-TAP-dependent export of intronless mRNAs was initially proposed based on research examining the export of herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) intronless mRNAs (47, 48). HSV-1 encodes the trans-acting protein ICP27 that is involved in the export of viral mRNAs. The interaction of ICP27 with REF was demonstrated in a yeast two-hybrid system and confirmed in virus-infected cells (47, 48). The injection of ICP27 into Xenopus oocytes dramatically stimulated the export of intronless viral mRNAs, whereas a mutant that did not interact with REF was inactive during RNA export (48), indicating that the recruitment of REF is critical for intronless mRNA export. The involvement of REF in the export of intronless mRNAs was also suggested by experiments involving the injection of
-REF antibody into the nuclei of Xenopus oocytes (28). These previous observations could be explained by our finding that REF was recruited by CBP20. Actually the CBP20-REF interaction was essential for the promotion of the intronless mRNA export, according to our microinjection experiments with wild-type and mutant REF proteins. In Drosophila cells, RNA interference experiments showed that REF1/Aly are dispensable for bulk mRNA export (49), suggesting that intron-containing mRNAs do not require REF for their export. As the EJC is not formed on intronless mRNA, CBP20-mediated REF recruitment may play a central role for the export of intronless mRNAs.
In yeast, the THO complex consisting of Tho2p, Hpr1p, Mft1p, and Thp2p (50) interacts genetically and physically with components of mRNA export machineries (51, 52). Yra1p/REF and Sub2p/UAP56 are stoichiometrically associated with the heterotetrameric THO complex, and is recruited to transcription-activated genes with or without introns and designated the transcription/export (TREX) complex (53, 54). In the case of Drosophila, gene expression profiling in S2 cells depleted of THO2, UAP56, and REF showed that they play differential roles in mRNA export, suggesting these proteins do not act as units of a single protein complex (49, 55, 56). In mammals, GST-UAP56 reportedly pulled down hTho2, fSAP79, hHpr1, hTex1, fSAP35, fSAP24, and REF in RNase-treated HeLa nuclear extracts (57). Masuda et al. (57) referred to the complex containing REF and UAP56 as the human TREX. However, pre-mRNA splicing and the 5' cap structure are required for the recruitment of human TREX complex to mRNA, and this recruitment did not depend on RNAPII (58). Thus, in mammals, three distinct mechanisms of REF recruitment to mRNA may exist: 1) splicing-dependent recruitment involving the EJC, 2) cap- and splicing-dependent recruitment involving the TREX complex on spliced mRNA, and 3) cap-dependent recruitment to intronless mRNA. Although further studies are required, they may play differential roles in selective mRNA export in mammalian cells.
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains supplemental Figs. S1 and S2. ![]()
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 81-3-5803-5836; Fax: 81-3-5803-5853; E-mail: m.hagiwara.end{at}mri.tmd.ac.jp.
2 The abbreviations used are: mRNP, mRNA-protein complex; CBC, cap-binding complex; CBP20, cap-binding protein 20; EJC, exon-junction complex; AdMLP, adenovirus major late promoter; REF, RNA and export factor-binding proteins; RNAPII, RNA polymerase II; TREX, transcription/export (complex); nt, nucleotide(s); FITC, fluorescein isothiocyanate; RNP, ribonucleoprotein; WT, wild type. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
-UAP56 antibody and His-REF expression vector H4pRSETC, and Elisa Izaurralde for providing the
-CBP20 antibody. We also thank Takako Oshiro and Hiroto Nakanoya for technical assistances, Takashi Ideue and Naoyuki Kataoka for thoughtful discussion, Tokio Tani for helpful information about the mRNA microinjection assay, and members of the Hagiwara Laboratory for helpful discussions. | REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
S. M. Yoh, J. S. Lucas, and K. A. Jones The Iws1:Spt6:CTD complex controls cotranscriptional mRNA biosynthesis and HYPB/Setd2-mediated histone H3K36 methylation Genes & Dev., December 15, 2008; 22(24): 3422 - 3434. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G. M. Hautbergue, M.-L. Hung, A. P. Golovanov, L.-Y. Lian, and S. A. Wilson Mutually exclusive interactions drive handover of mRNA from export adaptors to TAP PNAS, April 1, 2008; 105(13): 5154 - 5159. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
H. Fuke and M. Ohno Role of poly (A) tail as an identity element for mRNA nuclear export Nucleic Acids Res., February 11, 2008; 36(3): 1037 - 1049. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
I. Taniguchi and M. Ohno ATP-Dependent Recruitment of Export Factor Aly/REF onto Intronless mRNAs by RNA Helicase UAP56 Mol. Cell. Biol., January 15, 2008; 28(2): 601 - 608. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Medina-Palazon, H. Gruffat, F. Mure, O. Filhol, V. Vingtdeux-Didier, H. Drobecq, C. Cochet, N. Sergeant, A. Sergeant, and E. Manet Protein Kinase CK2 Phosphorylation of EB2 Regulates Its Function in the Production of Epstein-Barr Virus Infectious Viral Particles J. Virol., November 1, 2007; 81(21): 11850 - 11860. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
T. Ideue, Y. T.F. Sasaki, M. Hagiwara, and T. Hirose Introns play an essential role in splicing-dependent formation of the exon junction complex Genes & Dev., August 15, 2007; 21(16): 1993 - 1998. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. Hagiwara and T. Nojima Cross-talks between Transcription and Post-transcriptional Events within a 'mRNA Factory' J. Biochem., July 1, 2007; 142(1): 11 - 15. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| All ASBMB Journals | Molecular and Cellular Proteomics |
| Journal of Lipid Research | ASBMB Today |