A specialized processing body that is temporally and asymmetrically regulated during the cell cycle in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

RNase mitochondrial RNA processing (MRP) is an essential ribonucleoprotein endoribonuclease that functions in the degradation of specific mRNAs involved in cell cycle regulation. We have investigated where this processing event occurs and how it is regulated. As expected, results demonstrate that RNase MRP is predominantly localized in the nucleolus, where it processes ribosomal RNAs. However, after the initiation of mitosis, RNase MRP localizes throughout the entire nucleus and in a single discrete cytoplasmic spot that persists until the completion of telophase. Furthermore, this spot was asymmetrically found in daughter cells, where the RNase MRP substrate, CLB2 mRNA, localizes. Both the mitotic exit network and fourteen early anaphase release pathways are nonessential but important for the temporal changes in localization. Asymmetric localization was found to be dependent on the locasome. The evidence suggests that these spots are specialized processing bodies for the degradation of transcripts that are cell cycle regulated and daughter cell localized. We have called these TAM bodies for temporal asymmetric MRP bodies.