mRNA degradation: an underestimated factor in steady-state transcript levels of cytochrome c oxidase subunits?

Steady-state mRNA levels are determined by synthesis and degradation; however, changes in mRNA levels are usually attributed to transcription. For cytochrome c oxidase (COX), cold acclimation typically leads to an increase in COX activity while transcript levels for the nuclear-encoded subunits change non-stoichiometrically. Whether those patterns are caused by differences in subunit transcription rates, decay rates or both was not known. We assessed decay rates of transcripts for COX subunits, including representatives that decreased, increased in parallel with COX or increased in excess of COX. Low temperature reduced the decay rate of all transcripts; however, COX subunits displayed higher thermal sensitivity than housekeeping genes. The lower decay rates for COX transcripts might explain some of their increase in response to cold acclimation. The reason for the exaggerated transcript response of two subunits (COX6B-1 and COX7A-2) may be due to decreased decay. However, decay rate differences could not explain the patterns seen with another subunit that did not change in mRNA level with thermal acclimation (COX6A-2). Further, the decay patterns differed between two thermal acclimation experiments, which may explain some of the heterogeneity seen in fish studies. The differences in decay rates suggest that the lack of stoichiometry in mRNA levels is exacerbated by post-transcriptional mechanisms. Collectively, these results suggest that temperature-induced differences in COX subunit mRNA levels and deviations from stoichiometry between them may partially arise from subunit-specific sensitivities to degradation. We suggest that all subunits are controlled by transcription, and that exaggerated responses of some subunits are due to reduced decay rates.