Small nucleolar RNAs controlling rRNA processing in Trypanosoma brucei

Vaibhav Chikne, K. Shanmugha Rajan, Moran Shalev-Benami, Kathryn Decker, Smadar Cohen-Chalamish, Hava Madmoni, Viplov K. Biswas, Sachin Kumar Gupta, Tirza Doniger, Ron Unger, Christian Tschudi, Elisabetta Ullu, Shulamit Michaeli

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

In trypanosomes, in contrast to most eukaryotes, the large subunit (LSU) ribosomal RNA is fragmented into two large and four small ribosomal RNAs (srRNAs) pieces, and this additional processing likely requires trypanosome-specific factors. Here, we examined the role of 10 abundant small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) involved in rRNA processing. We show that each snoRNA involved in LSU processing associates with factors engaged in either early or late biogenesis steps. Five of these snoRNAs interact with the intervening sequences of rRNA precursor, whereas the others only guide rRNA modifications. The function of the snoRNAs was explored by silencing snoRNAs. The data suggest that the LSU rRNA processing events do not correspond to the order of rRNA transcription, and that srRNAs 2, 4 and 6 which are part of LSU are processed before srRNA1. Interestingly, the 6 snoRNAs that affect sr-RNA1 processing guide modifications on rRNA positions that span locations from the protein exit tunnel to the srRNA1, suggesting that these modifications may serve as check-points preceding the liberation of srRNA1. This study identifies the highest number of snoRNAs so far described that are involved in rRNA processing and/or rRNA folding and highlights their function in the unique trypanosome rRNA maturation events.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2609-2629
Number of pages21
JournalNucleic Acids Research
Volume47
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 18 Mar 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License

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