Uncovering the residues responsible for Dis3L2 specificity

Exoribonucleases from the RNB-family of enzymes are widely distributed in nature. DIS3 is the eukaryotic homolog of the bacterial exoribonuclease II and is the only catalytic subunit of the core exosome complex. In humans, there are three members of DIS3 family that can be distinguished according to the sequence conservation of the active site:

DIS3, DIS3L (DIS3L1) and DIS3L2. Unlike its family counterparts, DIS3L2 does not interact with the exosome since it lacks the PIN domain, which is essential for the interaction with this multiprotein complex. Dis3L2 is involved in several cellular mechanisms, such as apoptosis, cellular differentiation and proliferation and its mutations have been associated with Wilms tumor formation and Perlman syndrome in children. Distinct studies on Dis3L2 enzyme unraveled a novel eukaryotic RNA decay pathway that challenged the models already established. Dis3L2 activity is stimulated by the addition of untemplated uridine residues to mRNAs, tRNAs, microRNAs, snRNAs among other classes of RNA.

The first insight on the uridylation involvement in controlling the stability of poly(A)-containing mRNAs was reported in S. pombe. However, the precise mechanism of action of this enzyme is not yet fully understood. In this work, the activity of fission yeast Dis3L2 mutant proteins was analyzed over different RNA substrates. The aim was to characterize the amino acid residues that distinguish Dis3L2 substrate specificities regarding its family homologues, namely the preference for uracil residues. The results show that some of the mutant Dis3L2 ribonucleases lose or acquire activity regarding the degradation of different RNAs. Furthermore, this will enable us to understand the mechanism of action of Dis3L2 and its function in different eukaryotic cells.