N6-methyladenosine (m6A) reader Pho92 is recruited co-transcriptionally and couples translation to mRNA decay to promote meiotic fitness in yeast

• DOI: 10.7554/elife.84034
• Publication Date: 2022-11-24T19:02:55Z
• Authors: Radhika A Varier; Theodora Sideri; Charlotte Capitan...; Zornitsa Manova; Enrica Calvani; Alice Rossi; Raghu R Edupuganti; Imke Ensinck; Vincent WC Chan; Harshil Patel; Joanna Kirkpatrick; Peter Faull; Ambrosius P Snijders; Michiel Vermeulen; Markus Ralser; Jernej Ule; Nicholas M Luscombe; Folkert J van Werven
• Keywords: Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics; 0301 basic medicine; Pho92; YTH; RNA Stability; translation; Gene Expression; RNA decay; Ecology,Evolution & Ethology; PROGRAM; meiosis; Biology (General); SPORULATION; Chemical Biology & High Throughput; Human Biology & Physiology; 0303 health sciences; S; Stem Cells; Q; Genome Integrity & Repair; R; MEIOSIS; Medicine; Synthetic Biology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Genetics & Genomics; EXPRESSION; Model organisms; QH301-705.5; Science; Immunology; Infectious Disease; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Biochemistry & Proteomics; Signalling & Oncogenes; 03 medical and health sciences; M(6)A; Biochemistry and Chemical Biology; REVEALS; N-6-METHYLADENOSINE; RNA, Messenger; YTH DOMAIN; Biology; cerevisiae; Molecular Biology; Exercise; Computational & Systems Biology; Science & Technology; FOS: Clinical medicine; Neurosciences; m6A; Cell Biology; Tumour Biology; GENE; Metabolism; Cell Cycle & Chromosomes; PAF1 COMPLEX; Paf1C; Developmental Biology

N6- methyladenosine (m6A) RNA modification impacts mRNA fate primarily via reader proteins, which dictate processes in development, stress, and disease. Yet little is known about m6A function in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which occurs solely during early meiosis. Here, we perform a multifaceted analysis of the m6A reader protein Pho92/Mrb1. Cross-linking immunoprecipitation analysis reveals that Pho92 associates with the 3’end of meiotic mRNAs in both an m6A-dependent and independent manner. Within cells, Pho92 transitions from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, and associates with translating ribosomes. In the nucleus Pho92 associates with target loci through its interaction with transcriptional elongator Paf1C. Functionally, we show that Pho92 promotes and links protein synthesis to mRNA decay. As such, the Pho92-mediated m6A-mRNA decay is contingent on active translation and the CCR4-NOT complex. We propose that the m6A reader Pho92 is loaded co-transcriptionally to facilitate protein synthesis and subsequent decay of m6A modified transcripts, and thereby promotes meiosis.