MRNA surveillance

mRNA surveillance mechanisms are pathways utilized by organisms to ensure fidelity and quality of messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules. There are a number of surveillance mechanisms present within cells. These mechanisms function at various steps of the mRNA biogenesis pathway to detect and degrade transcripts that have not properly been processed.

The translation of messenger RNA transcripts into proteins is a vital part of the central dogma of molecular biology. mRNA molecules are, however, prone to a host of fidelity errors which can cause errors in translation of mRNA into quality proteins. RNA surveillance mechanisms are methods cells use to assure the quality and fidelity of the mRNA molecules. This is generally achieved through marking aberrant mRNA molecule for degradation by various endogenous nucleases.

mRNA surveillance has been documented in bacteria and yeast. In eukaryotes, these mechanisms are known to function in both the nucleus and cytoplasm. Fidelity checks of mRNA molecules in the nucleus results in the degradation of improperly processed transcripts before export into the cytoplasm. Transcripts are subject to further surveillance once in the cytoplasm. Cytoplasmic surveillance mechanisms assess mRNA transcripts for the absence of or presence of premature stop codons.

Three surveillance mechanisms are currently known to function within cells: the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway (NMD); the nonstop mediated mRNA decay pathways (NSD); and the no-go mediated mRNA decay pathway (NGD).

Nonsense-mediated decay is involved in detection and decay of mRNA transcripts which contain premature termination codons (PTCs). PTCs can arise in cells through various mechanisms: germline mutations in DNA; somatic mutations in DNA; errors in transcription; or errors in post transcriptional mRNA processing. Failure to recognize and decay these mRNA transcripts can result in the production of truncated proteins which may be harmful to the organism. By causing decay of C-terminally truncated polypeptides, the NMD mechanism can protect cells against deleterious dominant-negative, and gain of function effects. PTCs have been implicated in approximately 30% of all inherited diseases; as such, the NMD pathway plays a vital role in assuring overall survival and fitness of an organism

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