Trypanosoma brucei Spliced Leader RNA Maturation by the Cap 1 2′-O-Ribose Methyltransferase and SLA1 H/ACA snoRNA Pseudouridine Synthase Complex

Abstract

Kinetoplastid flagellates attach a 39-nucleotide spliced leader (SL) upstream of protein-coding regions in polycistronic RNA precursors through trans splicing. SL modifications include cap 2′-O-ribose methylation of the first four nucleotides and pseudouridine (ψ) formation at uracil 28. In Trypanosoma brucei, TbMTr1 performs 2′-O-ribose methylation of the first transcribed nucleotide, or cap 1. We report the characterization of an SL RNA processing complex with TbMTr1 and the SLA1 H/ACA small nucleolar ribonucleoprotein (snoRNP) particle that guides SL ψ₂₈ formation. TbMTr1 is in a high-molecular-weight complex containing the four conserved core proteins of H/ACA snoRNPs, a kinetoplastid-specific protein designated methyltransferase-associated protein (TbMTAP), and the SLA1 snoRNA. TbMTAP-null lines are viable but have decreased SL RNA processing efficiency in cap methylation, 3′-end maturation, and ψ₂₈ formation. TbMTAP is required for association between TbMTr1 and the SLA1 snoRNP but does not affect U1 small nuclear RNA methylation. A complex methylation profile in the mRNA population of TbMTAP-null lines indicates an additional effect on cap 4 methylations. The TbMTr1 complex specializes the SLA1 H/ACA snoRNP for efficient processing of multiple modifications on the SL RNA substrate.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://mcb.asm.org/ .

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by NIH grant AI056034. J.R.Z. was supported by USPHS National Research Service Award GM07104.

We thank Arthur Günzl for the PTP vector and advice on complex purification, Jay Bangs for pKO vectors, Michael Oberholzer and Thomas Seebeck for pMOT vectors, Kent Hill for YTAT cells and for use of the Zeiss fluorescence microscope, and Robert Hitchcock and Isadora Ruvalcaba-Trejo for stimulating discussions.