Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
EMBO J. 2012 Nov 5;31(21):4236-46. doi: 10.1038/emboj.2012.271. Epub 2012 Sep 28.
Translational repression and mRNA degradation are two major mechanisms for post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. The detailed relationship between these two processes is not yet well established. Zinc-finger antiviral protein (ZAP) inhibits the replication of certain viruses, including human immunodeficiency virus 1, by binding directly to specific viral mRNAs and recruiting cellular mRNA degradation machinery to degrade the target mRNA. Here, we report that ZAP also inhibits the translation of target mRNAs by interfering with the interaction between translational initiation factors eIF4G and eIF4A. Furthermore, we provide evidence that translational repression is required for mRNA degradation and that blocking the degradation of target mRNAs does not affect ZAP-mediated translational repression. We conclude that ZAP can both repress translation and promote degradation of target mRNA, and that translational repression precedes and is required for mRNA degradation.
转录抑制和 mRNA 降解是基因表达转录后调控的两种主要机制。这两个过程之间的详细关系尚未得到很好的确定。锌指抗病毒蛋白 (ZAP) 通过直接结合特定的病毒 mRNA 并招募细胞 mRNA 降解机制来降解靶 mRNA,从而抑制某些病毒(包括人类免疫缺陷病毒 1)的复制。在这里,我们报告 ZAP 还通过干扰翻译起始因子 eIF4G 和 eIF4A 之间的相互作用来抑制靶 mRNA 的翻译。此外,我们提供了证据表明翻译抑制对于 mRNA 降解是必需的,并且阻止靶 mRNA 的降解不会影响 ZAP 介导的翻译抑制。我们得出结论,ZAP 可以同时抑制靶 mRNA 的翻译和促进其降解,并且翻译抑制先于并需要 mRNA 降解。