Cancer Therapeutics Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1H 8L6.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2013 Jun;41(11):5692-703. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkt279. Epub 2013 Apr 19.
The DNA damage-binding protein 2 (DDB2) is an adapter protein that can direct a modular Cul4-DDB1-RING E3 Ligase complex to sites of ultraviolet light-induced DNA damage to ubiquitinate substrates during nucleotide excision repair. The DDB2 transcript is ultraviolet-inducible; therefore, its regulation is likely important for its function. Curiously, the DDB2 mRNA is reportedly short-lived, but the transcript does not contain any previously characterized cis-acting determinants of mRNA stability in its 3' untranslated region (3'UTR). Here, we used a tetracycline regulated d2EGFP reporter construct containing specific 3'UTR sequences from DDB2 to identify novel cis-acting elements that regulate mRNA stability. Synthetic 3'UTRs corresponding to sequences as short as 25 nucleotides from the central region of the 3'UTR of DDB2 were sufficient to accelerate decay of the heterologous reporter mRNA. Conversely, these same 3'UTRs led to more rapid induction of the reporter mRNA, export of the message to the cytoplasm and the subsequent accumulation of the encoded reporter protein, indicating that this newly identified cis-acting element affects transcriptional and post-transciptional processes. These results provide clear evidence that nuclear and cytoplasmic processing of the DDB2 mRNA is inextricably linked.
DNA 损伤结合蛋白 2(DDB2)是一种衔接蛋白,可将模块化的 Cul4-DDB1-RING E3 连接酶复合物靶向到紫外线诱导的 DNA 损伤部位,在核苷酸切除修复过程中泛素化底物。DDB2 转录物是紫外线诱导的;因此,其调节可能对其功能很重要。奇怪的是,据报道 DDB2 mRNA 半衰期短,但该转录物在其 3'非翻译区(3'UTR)中不包含任何先前表征的 mRNA 稳定性顺式作用决定因素。在这里,我们使用 tetracycline 调控的 d2EGFP 报告构建体,其中包含来自 DDB2 的特定 3'UTR 序列,以鉴定调节 mRNA 稳定性的新顺式作用元件。来自 DDB2 3'UTR 中心区域的短至 25 个核苷酸的合成 3'UTR 足以加速异源报告 mRNA 的降解。相反,这些相同的 3'UTR 导致报告 mRNA 的更快诱导、mRNA 向细胞质的输出以及随后编码报告蛋白的积累,表明这个新鉴定的顺式作用元件影响转录和转录后过程。这些结果提供了确凿的证据,表明 DDB2 mRNA 的核和细胞质加工是不可分割的。