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A defined sequence within the 3′ UTR of the areA transcript is sufficient to mediate nitrogen metabolite signalling via accelerated deadenylation
Author(s) -
Morozov Igor Y.,
Martinez Marisa Galbis,
Jones Meriel G.,
Caddick Mark X.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2000.02085.x
Subject(s) - biology , cycloheximide , untranslated region , transcription (linguistics) , microbiology and biotechnology , aspergillus nidulans , messenger rna , heterologous , protein biosynthesis , genetics , gene , mutant , linguistics , philosophy
Nitrogen metabolism in Aspergillus nidulans is regulated by AREA, a member of the GATA family of transcription factors. One mechanism that modulates AREA activity involves the rapid degradation of the areA transcript when sufficient NH 4 + or Gln are available. This signalling mechanism has been shown to require a region of 218 nucleotides within the 3′ untranslated region of areA mRNA . We demonstrate that this region functions independently in a heterologous transcript and acts to accelerate degradation of the poly(A) tail, which in turn leads to rapid transcript degradation in response to the addition of NH 4 + or Gln to the growth medium. areA transcript degradation is inhibited by cycloheximide, but this is not a general consequence of translational inhibition. We believe that this is the first reported example in which specific physiological signals, acting through a defined sequence within a transcript, have been shown to promote accelerated poly(A) degradation, which in turn triggers transcript degradation.