Key result
Rqc1 and other endogenous yeast proteins containing highly positively charged sequences are not targeted by the Ribosome Quality Control (RQC) complex for cotranslational degradation.
Why the study?
Because Rqc1 and Sdd1 were the only endogenous yeast proteins known to activate the RQC, researchers sought to determine whether the RQC complex generally controls the expression of other proteins with polybasic sequences.
The study demonstrates that highly positively charged sequences in yeast proteins do not generally induce RQC complex activation, challenging previous assumptions about translation regulation.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Refines RQC selectivity models in yeast; leaves open conservation in mammalian cotranslational quality control.
Previous work has suggested that highly positively charged protein segments coded by rare codons or poly (A) stretches induce ribosome stalling and translational arrest through electrostatic interactions with the negatively charged ribosome exit tunnel, leading to inefficient elongation. This arrest leads to the activation of the Ribosome Quality Control (RQC) pathway and results in low expression of these reporter proteins. However, the only endogenous yeast proteins known to activate the RQC are Rqc1, a protein essential for RQC function, and Sdd1, a protein with unknown function, both of which contain polybasic sequences. To explore the generality of this phenomenon, we investigated whether the RQC complex controls the expression of other proteins with polybasic sequences. We showed by ribosome profiling data analysis and western blot that proteins containing polybasic sequences similar to, or even more positively charged than those of Rqc1 and Sdd1, were not targeted by the RQC complex. We also observed that the previously reported Ltn1-dependent regulation of Rqc1 is posttranslational, independent of the RQC activity. Taken together, our results suggest that RQC should not be regarded as a general regulatory pathway for the expression of highly positively charged proteins in yeast.
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Barros et al. (2021) studied Ribosome Quality Control (RQC) pathway in yeast. Deletion of RQC components (LTN1, ASC1, RQC2, HEL2) vs. Wild-type yeast strains was evaluated on Protein expression levels of endogenous proteins with polybasic sequences. Rqc1 and other endogenous yeast proteins containing highly positively charged sequences are not targeted by the Ribosome Quality Control (RQC) complex for cotranslational degradation.
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