Kinetoplastid RNA editing involves a 3' nucleotidyl phosphatase activity.

Mitochondrial pre-messenger RNAs (pre-mRNAs) in African trypanosomes require RNA editing in order to mature into functional transcripts. The process involves the addition and/or removal of U nucleotides and is mediated by a high-molecular-mass complex, the editosome. Editosomes catalyze the reaction through an enzyme-driven pathway that includes endo/exoribonuclease, terminal uridylate transferase and RNA ligase activities. Here we show that editing involves an additional reaction step, a 3' nucleotidyl phosphatase activity. The activity is associated with the editing complex and we demonstrate that the editosomal proteins TbMP99 and TbMP100 contribute to the activity. Both polypeptides contain endo-exonuclease-phosphatase domains and we show that gene ablation of either one of the two polypeptides is compensated by the other protein. However, simultaneous knockdown of both genes results in trypanosome cells with reduced 3' nucleotidyl phosphatase and reduced editing activity. The data provide a rationale for the exoUase activity of the editosomal protein TbMP42, which generates nonligatable 3' phosphate termini. Opposing phosphates at the two pre-mRNA cleavage fragments likely function as a roadblock to prevent premature ligation.

TbMP42 is a structure-sensitive ribonuclease that likely follows a metal ion catalysis mechanism.

RNA editing in African trypanosomes is characterized by a uridylate-specific insertion and/or deletion reaction that generates functional mitochondrial transcripts. The process is catalyzed by a multi-enzyme complex, the editosome, which consists of approximately 20 proteins. While for some of the polypeptides a contribution to the editing reaction can be deduced from their domain structure, the involvement of other proteins remains elusive. TbMP42, is a component of the editosome that is characterized by two C(2)H(2)-type zinc-finger domains and a putative oligosaccharide/oligonucleotide-binding fold. Recombinant TbMP42 has been shown to possess endo/exoribonuclease activity in vitro; however, the protein lacks canonical nuclease motifs. Using a set of synthetic gRNA/pre-mRNA substrate RNAs, we demonstrate that TbMP42 acts as a topology-dependent ribonuclease that is sensitive to base stacking. We further show that the chelation of Zn(2+) cations is inhibitory to the enzyme activity and that the chemical modification of amino acids known to coordinate Zn(2+) inactivates rTbMP42. Together, the data are suggestive of a Zn(2+)-dependent metal ion catalysis mechanism for the ribonucleolytic activity of rTbMP42.

TbMP42, a protein component of the RNA editing complex in African trypanosomes, has endo-exoribonuclease activity.

RNA editing in trypanosomatids is catalyzed by a high molecular mass RNP complex, which is only partially characterized. TbMP42 is a 42 kDa protein of unknown function that copurifies with the editing complex. The polypeptide is characterized by two Zn fingers and a potential barrel structure/OB-fold at its C terminus. Using recombinant TbMP42, we show that the protein can bind to dsRNA and dsDNA but fails to recognize DNA/RNA hybrids. rTbMP42 degrades ssRNA by a 3' to 5' exoribonuclease activity. In addition, rTbMP42 has endoribonuclease activity, which preferentially hydrolyzes non-base-paired uridylate-containing sequences. Gene silencing of TbMP42 inhibits cell growth and is ultimately lethal to the parasite. Mitochondrial extracts from TbMP42-minus trypanosomes have only residual RNA editing activity and strongly reduced endo-exoribonuclease activity. However, all three activities can be restored by the addition of rTbMP42. Together, the data suggest that TbMP42 contributes both endo- and exoribonuclease activity to the editing reaction cycle.

In vitro synthesized small interfering RNAs elicit RNA interference in african trypanosomes: an in vitro and in vivo analysis.

RNA interference (RNAi) describes an epigenetic gene silencing reaction by which gene-specific double-stranded RNA acts as a trigger to induce the ribonucleolytic degradation of homologous transcripts. RNAi in African trypanosomes has been shown to be involved in regulating the transcript abundance of retroposons, and the process currently represents the method of choice in gene function studies of the parasite. However, little is known concerning the mechanistic and structural aspects of the processing reaction. This is in part due to the absence of a trypanosome-specific RNAi in vitro system. Here we demonstrate that both the Dicer and the RNA-induced silencing complex steps of the RNAi reaction pathway can be monitored in vitro using cell-free trypanosome extracts. The two in vitro activities and the generated small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are characterized by features known from other organisms, and we demonstrate that chemically as well as enzymatically synthesized siRNAs are functional in the parasite. Thus, the transfection of synthetic siRNAs can be used to rapidly monitor gene knockdown phenotypes in Trypanosoma brucei, which should be helpful in genome-wide, RNAi-based screening experiments.