Inhibition of mRNA Turnover in Yeast by an xrn1 Mutation Enhances the Requirement for eIF4E Binding to eIF4G and for Proper Capping of Transcripts by Ceg1p

Null mutants of XRN1, encoding the major cytoplasmic exoribonuclease in yeast, are viable but accumulate decapped, deadenylated transcripts. A screen for mutations synthetic lethal with xrn1Δ identified a mutation in CDC33, encoding eIF4E. This mutation (glutamate to glycine at position 72) affected a highly conserved residue involved in interaction with eIF4G. Synthetic lethality between xrn1 and cdc33 was not relieved by high-copy expression of eIF4G or by disruption of the yeast eIF4E binding protein Caf20p. High-copy expression of a mutant eIF4G defective for eIF4E binding resulted in a dominant negative phenotype in an xrn1 mutant, indicating the importance of this interaction in an xrn1 mutant. Another allele of CDC33, cdc33-1, along with mutations in CEG1, encoding the nuclear guanylyltransferase, were also synthetic lethal with xrn1Δ, whereas mutations in PRT1, encoding a subunit of eIF3, were not. Mutations in CDC33, CEG1, PRT1, PAB1, and TIF4631, encoding eIF4G1, have been shown to lead to destabilization of mRNAs. Although such destabilization in cdc33, ceg1, and pab1 mutants can be partially suppressed by an xrn1 mutation, we observed synthetic lethality between xrn1 and either cdc33 or ceg1 and no suppression of the inviability of a pab1 null mutation by xrn1Δ. Thus, the inhibition of mRNA turnover by blocking Xrn1p function does not suppress the lethality of defects upstream in the turnover pathway but it does enhance the requirement for 7mG caps and for proper formation of the eIF4E/eIF4G cap recognition complex.