Ded1p, a DEAD-box protein required for translation initiation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is an RNA helicase.

The Ded1 protein (Ded1p), a member of the DEAD-box family, has recently been shown to be essential for translation initiation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here, we show that Ded1p purified from Escherichia coli has an ATPase activity, which is stimulated by various RNA substrates. Using an RNA strand-displacement assay, we show that Ded1p has also an ATP-dependent RNA unwinding activity. Hydrolysis of ATP is required for this activity: the replacement of ATP by a nonhydrolyzable analog or a mutation in the DEAD motif abolishing ATPase activity results in loss of RNA unwinding. We find that cells harboring a Ded1 protein with this mutated DEAD motif are nonviable, suggesting that the ATPase and RNA helicase activities of this protein are essential to the cell. Finally, RNA binding measurements indicate that the presence of ATP, but not ADP, increases the affinity of Ded1p for duplex versus single-stranded RNA; we discuss how this differential effect might drive the unwinding reaction.

The p20 and Ded1 proteins have antagonistic roles in eIF4E-dependent translation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The translation initiation factor eIF4E mediates the binding of the small ribosomal subunit to the cap structure at the 5' end of the mRNA. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the cap-binding protein eIF4E is mainly associated with eIF4G, forming the cap-binding complex eIF4F. Other proteins are detected upon purification of the complex on cap-affinity columns. Among them is p20, a protein of unknown function encoded by the CAF20 gene. Here, we show a negative regulatory role for the p20 protein in translation initiation. Deletion of CAF20 partially suppresses mutations in translation initiation factors. Overexpression of the p20 protein results in a synthetic enhancement of translation mutation phenotypes. Similar effects are observed for mutations in the DED1 gene, which we have isolated as a multicopy suppressor of a temperature-sensitive eIF4E mutation. The DED1 gene encodes a putative RNA helicase of the DEAD-box family. The analyses of its suppressor activity, of polysome profiles of ded1 mutant strains, and of synthetic lethal interactions with different translation mutants indicate that the Ded1 protein has a role in translation initiation in S. cerevisiae.

The stability of Escherichia coli lacZ mRNA depends upon the simultaneity of its synthesis and translation.

We have used either Escherichia coli or T7 RNA polymerase to transcribe in E. coli a series of lacZ genes that differ in the nature of their ribosome binding sites (RBS). Each T7 RNA polymerase transcript yields from 15- to 450-fold less beta-galactosidase than its E. coli polymerase counterpart, the ratio being larger when weaker RBS are used. The low beta-galactosidase yield from T7 transcripts reflects their low stability: the ams-1/rne-50 mutation, which inactivates RNase E, nearly equalizes the beta-galactosidase yields from T7 and E. coli RNA polymerase transcripts. T7 RNA polymerase transcribes the lacZ gene approximately 8-fold faster than the E. coli enzyme. We propose that this higher speed unmasks an RNase E cleavage site which is normally shielded by ribosomes soon after its synthesis when the slower E. coli enzyme is used. This leads to degradation of the T7 transcript, unless the leading ribosome comes in time to shield the cleavage site: the weaker the RBS, the lower this probability and the more severe the inability of T7 RNA polymerase transcripts for beta-galactosidase synthesis.

mRNAs can be stabilized by DEAD-box proteins.

Eubacterial messenger RNAs are synthesized and translated simultaneously; moreover the speed of ribosomes usually matches that of RNA polymerase. We report here that when in Escherichia coli the host RNA polymerase is replaced by the eightfold faster bacteriophage T7 enzyme for the transcription of the lacZ gene, the beta-galactosidase yield per transcript is depressed 100-fold. But the overexpression of DEAD-box proteins greatly improves this low yield by stabilizing the corresponding transcripts. More generally, it stabilizes inefficiently translated E. coli mRNAs. Ribosome-free mRNA regions, such as those lying behind the fast T7 enzyme or between successive ribosomes on inefficiently translated transcripts, are often unstable and we propose that DEAD-box proteins protect them from endonucleases. These results pinpoint the importance of transcription-translation synchronization for mRNA stability, and reveal an undocumented property of DEAD-box RNA helicases. These proteins have been implicated in a variety of processes involving RNA but not mRNA stability.

The use of a tRNA as a transcriptional reporter: the T7 late promoter is extremely efficient in Escherichia coli but its transcripts are poorly expressed.

In gene expression studies, promoters are often fused to a protein-encoding reporter gene, the expression of which is then taken as an indirect measure of their strength. Here, we advocate the use of a tRNA reporter for the direct quantification of promoter strength. Using this method, we have studied the bacteriophage T7 gene 10 promoter in an E. coli strain that produces saturating amounts of T7 RNA polymerase. At 37 degrees C in aminoacid-glycerol medium, we show that this promoter ranks amongst the strongest known, directing ca 1.1 transcription events per second, 2.2-fold more than the promoters for rRNA operons, or 15-fold more than the induced lac promoter. Surprisingly, compared to the lac promoter, the T7 promoter is far less efficient in driving the expression of protein-encoding genes such as cat, neo or lacZ. Therefore, the polypeptide yield per transcript is lower when the T7 RNA polymerase is used instead of the E. coli RNA polymerase. The former enzyme travels faster than the translating ribosomes, and we suggest that this desynchronization lowers the polypeptide yield per transcript.

Bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase travels far ahead of ribosomes in vivo.

We show that in Escherichia coli at 32 degrees C, the T7 RNA polymerase travels over the lacZ gene about eightfold faster than ribosomes travel over the corresponding mRNA. We discuss how the T7 phage might exploit this high rate in its growth optimization strategy and how it obviates the possible drawbacks of uncoupling transcription from translation.

The relation between translation and mRNA degradation in the lacZ gene.

The technique of gene fusion, in which the gene of interest, severed from its 3' end, is in-phase fused to a reporter gene--usually lacZ--is widely used to study translational regulation in Escherichia coli. Implicit in these approaches is the assumption that the activity of the ribosome binding site (RBS) fused in-phase with lacZ, does not per se modify the steady-state level of the lacZ mRNA. Herein, we have tested this hypothesis, using a model system in which the RBS of the lamB gene is fused to lacZ. Several point mutations affecting translation initiation have been formerly characterized in this RBS, and we used Northern blots to study their effect upon the lacZ mRNA pattern. Two series of constructs were assayed: in the first one, a 51-bp fragment centered around the lamB initiator codon, was inserted in front of lacZ within the natural lactose operon, whereas in the second the lacZ gene was fused to the genuine malK-lamB operon just downstream from the lamB RBS. We observed that in the first series, the concentration and average molecular weight of the lacZ mRNA dropped sharply as the efficiency of the RBS decreased. This apparently arose from a decreased stability of the message, since the mRNA patterns are equalized when the endonuclease RNase E is inactivated. We suggest that in this case the rate limiting step in the decay process is an RNase E cleavage that is outcompeted by translation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Activation of phenylalanine hydroxylase expression following genomic DNA transfection of hepatoma cells.

Genomic DNA from cells producing the liver-specific enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) should contain, in active form, genes encoding regulators of PAH expression. We have transfected genomic DNA from PAH-producing rat hepatoma cells to PAH-deficient mouse hepatoma cells, and selected in tyrosine-deficient medium for cells producing the enzyme. The frequency of colonies obtained was similar to that for transfer of a single-copy gene. Genomic DNA from the primary transfectants permitted the isolation in tyrosine-free medium of secondary transfectants. Control experiments, using donor DNA from PAH-negative rat or mouse hepatoma cells also permitted the isolation of PAH-expressing cells, but at a frequency 10-30 times lower. The transfectants isolated in tyrosine-deficient selective medium all produced PAH mRNA. This transcript was from the previously silent mouse gene, which had not undergone amplification or gross rearrangement. Most of the transfectants contained less than 0.1% rat DNA. A search for other functions that might have been simultaneously activated was negative. It is concluded that the mouse transfectants acquired from the PAH+ rat donor some sequences whose presence permits activity of the previously silent PAH gene.