Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is an mRNA degradation pathway that regulates gene expression and mRNA quality. A complex network of macromolecular interactions regulates NMD initiation, which is only partially understood. According to prevailing models, NMD begins by the assembly of the SURF (SMG1-UPF1-eRF1-eRF3) complex at the ribosome, followed by UPF1 activation by additional factors suc...

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, rapid degradation of nonsense-containing mRNAs requires the decapping enzyme Dcp1p, the 5'-to-3' exoribonuclease Xrn1p, and the three nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) factors, Upf1p, Nmd2p, and Upf3p. To identify specific functions for the NMD factors, we analyzed the mRNA decay phenotypes of yeast strains containing deletions of DCP1 or XRN1 and UPF1, NMD2, or UP...

222 donor and 222 acceptor (including 206 pairs) non-homologous splicing sites were studied. Well known features of these were confirmed and some novel observations were made. It is (1) cCAGGGag signal in (-60)-(-58) region of acceptor sites; (2) strong complementarity between regions (-69)-(-55) and (-36)-(-22) of some of the acceptor sites, and (3) small but statistically significant correlat...