RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 UPF3A is dispensable for nonsense-mediated mRNA decay in mouse pluripotent and somatic cells
JF Life Science Alliance
JO Life Sci. Alliance
FD Life Science Alliance LLC
SP e202201589
DO 10.26508/lsa.202201589
VO 6
IS 6
A1 Chengyan Chen
A1 Yanmin Shen
A1 Luqian Li
A1 Yaoxin Ren
A1 Zhao-Qi Wang
A1 Tangliang Li
YR 2023
UL https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/6/6/e202201589.abstract
AB Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a highly conserved regulatory mechanism of post-transcriptional gene expression in eukaryotic cells. NMD plays essential roles in mRNA quality and quantity control and thus safeguards multiple biological processes including embryonic stem cell differentiation and organogenesis. UPF3A and UPF3B in vertebrate species, originated from a single UPF3 gene in yeast, are key factors in the NMD machinery. Although UPF3B is a well-recognized weak NMD-promoting factor, whether UPF3A functions in promoting or suppressing NMD is under debate. In this study, we generated a Upf3a conditional knockout mouse strain and established multiple lines of embryonic stem cells and somatic cells without UPF3A. Through extensive analysis on the expressions of 33 NMD targets, we found UPF3A neither represses NMD in mouse embryonic stem cells, somatic cells, nor in major organs including the liver, spleen, and thymus. Our study reinforces that UPF3A is dispensable for NMD when UPF3B is present. Furthermore, UPF3A may weakly and selectively promote NMD in certain murine organs.