The DUBm subunit Sgf11 is required for mRNA export and interacts with Cbp80 in Drosophila.

SAGA/TFTC is a histone acetyltransferase complex that has a second enzymatic activity because of the presence of a deubiquitination module (DUBm). Drosophila DUBm consists of Sgf11, ENY2 and Nonstop proteins. We show that Sgf11 has other DUBm-independent functions. It associates with Cbp80 component of the cap-binding complex and is thereby recruited onto growing messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA); it also interacts with the AMEX mRNA export complex and is essential for hsp70 mRNA export, as well as for general mRNA export from the nucleus. Thus, Sgf11 functions as a component of both SAGA DUBm and the mRNA biogenesis machinery.