Premium
The nuclear mRNA export receptor Mex 67‐ Mtr 2 of T rypanosoma brucei contains a unique and essential zinc finger motif
Author(s) -
Dostalova Anna,
Käser Sandro,
Cristodero Marina,
Schimanski Bernd
Publication year - 2013
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 - 10.1111/mmi.12217
Subject(s) - biology , trypanosoma brucei , zinc finger , nuclear export signal , gene , polyadenylation , messenger rna , genetics , rna splicing , alternative splicing , microbiology and biotechnology , gene expression , regulation of gene expression , trypanosoma , karyopherin , cell nucleus , transcription factor , nuclear transport , rna
Summary T rypanosoma brucei is the causative agent of H uman A frican T rypanosomiasis. Trypanosomes are early diverged protozoan parasites and show significant differences in their gene expression compared with higher eukaryotes. Due to a lack of individual gene promoters, large polycistronic transcripts are produced and individual mRNAs mature by trans ‐splicing and polyadenylation. In the absence of transcriptional control, regulation of gene expression occurs post‐transcriptionally mainly by control of transcript stability and translation. Regulation of mRNA export from the nucleus to the cytoplasm might be an additional post‐transcriptional event involved in gene regulation. However, our knowledge about mRNA export in trypanosomes is very limited. Although export factors of higher eukaryotes are reported to be conserved, only a few orthologues can be readily identified in the genome of T . brucei . Hence, biochemical approaches are needed to identify the export machinery of trypanosomes. Here, we report the functional characterization of the essential mRNA export factor TbMex 67. TbMex 67 contains a unique and essential N ‐terminal zinc finger motif. Furthermore, we could identify two interacting export factors namely TbMtr 2 and the karyopherin TbIMP 1. Our data show that the general heterodimeric export receptor Mex 67‐ Mtr 2 is conserved throughout the eukaryotic kingdom albeit exhibiting parasite‐specific features.