Drosophila clipper/CPSF 30K is a post-transcriptionally regulated nuclear protein that binds RNA containing GC clusters

• Published in: Nucleic acids research Vol. 26; no. 7; pp. 1597 - 1604
• Main Authors: Bai, C, Tolias, P.P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01.04.1998
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; amino acid sequences; Animals; Base Composition; Base Sequence; binding proteins; binding sites; clp gene; Cytosine; Drosophila melanogaster; Drosophila melanogaster - genetics; Drosophila melanogaster - growth & development; embryogenesis; genbank/af033201; gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Genes, Insect; genetic regulation; Guanine; Larva; messenger RNA; Mice; Molecular Sequence Data; mRNA Cleavage and Polyadenylation Factors; nucleotide sequences; post-transcriptional regulation; RNA; RNA Precursors - chemistry; RNA Precursors - metabolism; RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional; RNA, Messenger - biosynthesis; RNA-binding proteins; RNA-Binding Proteins - biosynthesis; RNA-Binding Proteins - chemistry; Sequence Alignment; Sequence Deletion; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; structural genes; Substrate Specificity; transcription (genetics); Transcription, Genetic; Zebrafish; Zinc Fingers
• ISSN: 0305-1048; 1362-4962
• DOI: 10.1093/nar/26.7.1597

An essential component of the mammalian pre-mRNA 3′-end processing machinery is a multimeric protein complex known as cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF). The Drosophila melanogaster gene, clipper (clp), encodes a homolog of the CPSF 30K subunit. We have shown previously that CLP possesses N-terminal endoribonucleolytic activity and that the relative expression of its mRNA fluctuates during fly development. In the present study, we report that CLP's C-terminus, containing two CCHC zinc knuckles, confers a binding preference for RNAs that contain G- and/or C-rich clusters. We also show, for the first time, that a member of the highly conserved CPSF 30K family is a nuclear and developmentally regulated protein. Though clp transcripts are detectable throughout embryogenesis, CLP protein is not present. We demonstrate that post-transcriptional regulation of clp mRNA in the embryo occurs by a process that does not involve poly(A) tail length shortening. Thus, a key component of the pre-mRNA 3′-end processing machinery is subject to post-transcriptional regulation during development. These results support the existence of a distinct mechanism controlling eukaryotic gene expression through the regulated processing of pre-mRNAs in the nucleus.