Dedicated surveillance mechanism controls G-quadruplex forming non-coding RNAs in human mitochondria

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05007-9
• Publication Date: 2018-06-26T10:22:45Z
• Authors: Zbigniew Pietras; Magdalena A. Wojcik; Lukasz S. Borowski; Maciej Szewczyk; Tomasz M. Kulinski; Dominik Cysewski; Piotr P. Stepien; Andrzej Dziembowski; Roman J. Szczesny
• Keywords: G-quadruplex

The GC skew in vertebrate mitochondrial genomes results synthesis of RNAs that are prone to form G-quadruplexes (G4s). Such RNAs, although mostly non-coding, transcribed at high rates and degraded by an unknown mechanism. Here we describe a dedicated mechanism degradation G4-containing which is based on cooperation between degradosome quasi-RNA recognition motif (qRRM) protein GRSF1. This prevents accumulation transcripts human mitochondria. In vitro reconstitution experiments show GRSF1 promotes G4 melting facilitates degradosome-mediated decay. Among regulated identified one undergoes post-transcriptional modification. We proteins distinct qRRM group found only vertebrates. appearance coincided with changes the genome, allows emergence RNAs. propose evolutionary adaptation enabling control RNA.