Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14642; email:
Annu Rev Genet. 2013;47:139-65. doi: 10.1146/annurev-genet-111212-133424.
Cells use messenger RNAs (mRNAs) to ensure the accurate dissemination of genetic information encoded by DNA. Given that mRNAs largely direct the synthesis of a critical effector of cellular phenotype, i.e., proteins, tight regulation of both the quality and quantity of mRNA is a prerequisite for effective cellular homeostasis. Here, we review nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD), which is the best-characterized posttranscriptional quality control mechanism that cells have evolved in their cytoplasm to ensure transcriptome fidelity. We use protein quality control as a conceptual framework to organize what is known about NMD, highlighting overarching similarities between these two polymer quality control pathways, where the protein quality control and NMD pathways intersect, and how protein quality control can suggest new avenues for research into mRNA quality control.
细胞使用信使 RNA(mRNA)来确保 DNA 编码的遗传信息的准确传递。鉴于 mRNA 在很大程度上指导细胞表型的关键效应物,即蛋白质的合成,因此严格调控 mRNA 的质量和数量是实现有效细胞内稳态的前提条件。在这里,我们回顾了无意义介导的 mRNA 降解(NMD),这是细胞在细胞质中进化出的最典型的转录后质量控制机制,以确保转录组的保真度。我们使用蛋白质质量控制作为概念框架来组织已知的 NMD,突出这两种聚合物质量控制途径之间的总体相似性,以及蛋白质质量控制和 NMD 途径如何交叉,以及蛋白质质量控制如何为研究 mRNA 质量控制提供新途径。