p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase/Hog1p Regulates Translation of the AU-Rich-Element-Bearing MFA2 Transcript

Abstract

AU-rich-element (ARE)-mediated mRNA regulation occurs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae in response to external and internal stimuli through the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/Hog1p pathway. We demonstrate that the ARE-bearing MFA2 3′ untranslated region (UTR) controls translation efficiency in a p38 MAPK/Hog1p-dependent manner in response to carbon source growth conditions. The carbon source-regulated effect on MFA2 3′-UTR-controlled translation involves the role of conserved ARE binding proteins, the ELAV/TIA-1-like Pub1p, which can interact with the cap/eIF4G complex, and the translation/mRNA stability factor poly(A) binding protein (Pab1p). Pub1p binds the MFA2 3′-UTR in a p38 MAPK/Hog1p-regulated manner in response to carbon source growth conditions. Significantly, the p38 MAPK/Hog1p is also required to modulate Pab1p in response to carbon source. We find that Pab1p can bind the MFA2 3′-UTR in a regulated manner to control MFA2 3′-UTR reporter translation. Binding of full-length Pab1p to the MFA2 3′-UTR correlates with translation repression. Importantly, Pab1p binds the MFA2 3′-UTR only in a PUB1 strain, and correlating with this requirement, Pub1p controls translation repression of MFA2 in a carbon source/Hog1p-regulated manner. These results suggest that the p38 MAPK/Hog1p pathway regulates 3′-UTR-mediated translation by modulating recruitment of Pab1p and Pub1p, which can interact with the translation machinery.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work is dedicated to the memory of P. Vasudevan.

We thank Pfizer for the generous gift of thiolutin.

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health to S.W.P. (GM58276).