To Process or to Decay: A Mechanistic View of the Nuclear RNA Exosome
- Mahesh Lingaraju1,
- Jan M. Schuller1,
- Sebastian Falk2,
- Piotr Gerlach1,
- Fabien Bonneau1,
- Jérôme Basquin1,
- Christian Benda1 and
- Elena Conti1
- 1Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry, Department of Structural Cell Biology, D-82152 Martinsried/Munich, Germany
- 2Max Perutz Labs, Department of Structural and Computational Biology, University of Vienna, 1030, Vienna, Austria
- Correspondence: conti{at}biochem.mpg.de
Abstract
The RNA exosome was originally discovered in yeast as an RNA-processing complex required for the maturation of 5.8S ribosomal RNA (rRNA), one of the constituents of the large ribosomal subunit. The exosome is now known in eukaryotes as the major 3′–5′ RNA degradation machine involved in numerous processing, turnover, and surveillance pathways, both in the nucleus and the cytoplasm. Yet its role in maturing the 5.8S rRNA in the pre-60S ribosomal particle remains probably the most intricate and emblematic among its functions, as it involves all the RNA unwinding, degradation, and trimming activities embedded in this macromolecular complex. Here, we propose a comprehensive mechanistic model, based on current biochemical and structural data, explaining the dual functions of the nuclear exosome—the constructive versus the destructive mode.
- © 2019 Lingaraju et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
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