A screen for rna-binding proteins in yeast indicates dual functions for many enzymes

Abstract

Immediately when RNA is synthesized by RNA polymerases, RNA binding proteins (RBPs) assemble on the nascent transcript forming ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes, which tightly control all of the further steps in a RNA’s life. On one hand, RBPs assist the processing and assembly of non-coding (nc) RNAs into RNP complexes, which mediate essential cellular functions such as splicing and translation [1]. On the other hand, RBPs are essential for mRNA maturation, which involves the addition of a 7-methylguanosine cap at the 5‘end of mRNA-precursors, the splicing-out of introns, editing, and the addition of a polyadenosine tail at the 3‘end of the message. RBPs further guide mRNA export and localization to specific cytoplasmic loci for translation, and ultimately, they control the decay of (m)RNAs [2]. Notably, all these steps are highly connected to each other and linked with other gene regulatory layers to ensure proper expression of every gene in a cell [3].