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Molecular and Cellular Biology, June 2000, p. 4188-4198, Vol. 20, No. 12
Department of Biochemistry and
Biophysics,1 Program in Molecular
Biology and Biotechnology,4 and
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer
Center,3 University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Department of Biological
Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee,
Florida2
Received 8 March 2000/Accepted 23 March 2000
The expression of the replication-dependent histone mRNAs is
tightly regulated during the cell cycle. As cells progress from G1 to S phase, histone mRNA levels increase 35-fold, and
they decrease again during G2 phase. Replication-dependent
histone mRNAs are the only metazoan mRNAs that lack polyadenylated
tails, ending instead in a conserved stem-loop. Much of the cell cycle regulation is posttranscriptional and is mediated by the 3' stem-loop. A 31-kDa stem-loop binding protein (SLBP) binds the 3' end of histone
mRNA. The SLBP is necessary for pre-mRNA processing and accompanies the histone mRNA to the cytoplasm, where it is a
component of the histone messenger RNP. We used synchronous CHO cells
selected by mitotic shakeoff and HeLa cells synchronized at the
G1/S or the M/G1 boundary to study the
regulation of SLBP during the cell cycle. In each system the amount of
SLBP is regulated during the cell cycle, increasing 10- to 20-fold in
the late G1 and then decreasing in the S/G2
border. SLBP mRNA levels are constant during the cell cycle. SLBP
is regulated at the level of translation as cells progress from
G1 to S phase, and the protein is rapidly degraded as they
progress into G2. Regulation of SLBP may account for the
posttranscriptional component of the cell cycle regulation of histone mRNA.
The replication-dependent histone
mRNAs are tightly regulated during the cell cycle, increasing
35-fold as cells progress from G1 to S phase
(18). There is only a three- to five-fold increase in the
rate of transcription of the histone genes (7, 19),
indicating that much of the regulation is posttranscriptional. The
posttranscriptional component of cell cycle regulation is mediated by
the 3' end of the histone mRNA (32, 35), which is a
highly conserved stem-loop (34). The only processing step necessary for formation of the mature histone mRNA is an
endonucleolytic cleavage to form the 3' end (14). Cleavage
is directed by two cis-acting elements, the stem-loop which
binds to the hairpin binding factor (37, 38), and a
purine-rich sequence about 10 nucleotides (nt) 3' of the cleavage site
that binds the 5' end of U7 snRNA (3, 39, 55). Hairpin
binding factor is composed of a single 31-kDa protein, the stem-loop
binding protein (SLBP) (10, 60) or hairpin binding protein
(33), which is required for processing in vivo
(44) and which remains with the mature mRNA as a
component of the cytoplasmic messenger RNP (mRNP) (9, 17).
At least one additional factor, a heat-labile factor, is required for
processing, but this factor has not been well defined biochemically
(15).
Two posttranscriptional regulatory steps contribute to the cell cycle
regulation of histone mRNA concentrations. Processing is regulated
as cells progress from G1 to S phase, and the half-life of
histone mRNA is reduced to about 10 min at the end of S phase (18), resulting in the destruction of histone mRNA prior
to mitosis. We (60) and others (33) recently
cloned the cDNA for the SLBP from several species using the yeast
three-hybrid system (50). Here we show that SLBP, a major
trans-acting factor necessary for histone pre-mRNA
processing, is regulated during the cell cycle by both
posttranscriptional and posttranslational processes. Regulation of SLBP
is likely a critical component of the cell cycle regulation of histone mRNA.
Cell culture and synchronization.
CHO cells were grown in
McCoy's 5A medium with 10% calf serum and Pen-Strep as previously
described (18). To select synchronous cells, an automated
shakeoff device capable of simultaneously shaking 12 T75 flasks was
constructed (11). Mitotic cells were collected by shaking
every 10 min and stored at 4°C. Cells collected over a 4-h period
were pooled and plated (0.5 × 106 to 1 × 106 cells per 10-mm plate). The number of cells in S phase
was assessed by labeling cells with 5'-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU)
using the In Situ Cell Proliferation Kit (Boehringer Mannheim,
Indianapolis, Ind.). Nuclei that had incorporated BrdU into DNA during
the labeling period were visualized by staining with FastRed
(Boehringer Mannheim).
0270-7306/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Stem-Loop Binding Protein, the Protein That Binds the 3' End
of Histone mRNA, Is Cell Cycle Regulated by Both Translational
and Posttranslational Mechanisms

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ABSTRACT
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References
![]()
INTRODUCTION
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References
![]()
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Preparation of cell lysates and detection of SLBP and cyclin proteins. CHO cells were collected, washed once in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and lysed by incubation for 10 min in NP-40 lysis buffer (50 mM Tris [pH 7.5], 150 mM NaCl, 0.5% NP-40, 1 mM dithiothreitol). The insoluble material was pelleted by centrifugation at 16,000 × g in a microcentrifuge. The HeLa cells were lysed the same way or in some experiments were lysed in 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and boiled for 5 min. Western blots were performed by standard protocols (60). Typically, 25 µg of total cell protein was resolved on an SDS-10% polyacrylamide gel and transferred to nitrocellulose. SLBP was detected with antibodies raised to the C terminus of the mouse SLBP (60). Mobility shift assays were performed with whole-cell lysates as previously described (36, 43). Antibodies to human cyclin A and cyclin B raised against glutathione-S-transferase fusion proteins were a gift from Yue Xiong (61).
Preparation of RNA and analysis of histone mRNA and SLBP
mRNA.
Total cell RNA was prepared with the Ultraspec RNA
isolation system (Biotecx Laboratories, Inc., Houston, Tex.).
Concentrations of several mRNAs were determined by Northern
blotting. Briefly, 10 µg of total RNA was denatured in 50% formamide
plus 2.2 M formaldehyde, resolved on a 1% agarose-formaldehyde gel,
transferred to a nylon membrane (Hybond; Amersham Pharmacia Biotech,
Piscataway, N.J.) via capillary action, and cross-linked using a
Stratalinker (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif.). The blots were probed with
either the mouse SLBP cDNA (NcoI-SpeI fragment),
the rat glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) cDNA, or the
mouse histone H3.2-614 gene. The appropriate restriction fragments were
purified by agarose gel electrophoresis and labeled by random priming
in the presence of [
-32P]dCTP. Blots were hybridized
in Quikhyb (Stratagene) for 4 h at 55°C. U7 snRNA Northern blots
were performed on total RNA resolved by electrophoresis on a 10%
polyacrylamide-7 M urea gel using a riboprobe complementary to the
mouse U7 snRNA (10). Where indicated, the hamster histone H3
mRNA was mapped in an S1 nuclease assay with the mouse H3.2-614
gene, labeled at the SalI site (16, 18).
Labeling of cells and analysis of SLBP synthesis rate. CHO cells were labeled in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) without methionine and cysteine (ICN Pharmaceuticals, Costa Mesa, Calif.) supplemented with 10% dialyzed fetal bovine serum (Gibco-BRL, Gaithersburg, Md.) (24). For each point, a separate dish (25 mm) containing 106 cells was used. Cells were preincubated in DMEM without methionine and cysteine for 1 h prior to labeling to deplete the intracellular stores of methionine and cysteine. The cells were labeled with 1 mCi of [35S]methionine-cysteine (NEN Life Science Products, Boston, Mass.) in 2 ml of medium for 15 min. The label was removed, and the cells were washed in 1× PBS and lysed in NP-40 lysis buffer. Equal numbers of trichloroacetic acid-A precipitable counts (5 × 106 cpm) were used for each immunoprecipitation. Lysates were precleared with protein A-agarose beads and then incubated with affinity-purified anti-SLBP for 1 h. The SLBP-antibody complex was recovered by binding to protein A-agarose beads, and the beads were washed extensively with NP-40 lysis buffer. SLBP was eluted by heating the samples in SDS loading buffer and resolved by gel electrophoresis. The amount of labeled SLBP was quantified with a PhosphorImager (Molecular Dynamics, Sunnyvale, Calif.).
Analysis of distribution of mRNAs in polyribosomes. HeLa cells were synchronized as described above, and polyribosomes were analyzed by a modification of published methods (5, 25). Just prior to harvesting, the cells were treated with cycloheximide (0.1 mM) to freeze the mRNAs on polyribosomes. The cells were washed in PBS and then lysed by gentle shaking in 0.5% NP-40-0.1 M NaCl-10 mM MgCl2-2 mM dithiothreitol-50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5) containing 200 U of RNasin, 100 µg of cycloheximide, 200 µg of heparan, and 10 µl of protease inhibitor cocktail (catalog no. P-8340; Sigma Chemical, St. Louis, Mo.) per ml. The nuclei and membranes were removed by centrifugation at 10,000 × g for 10 min. The lysates were layered on 9-ml 15 to 40% (wt/vol) sucrose gradients in 0.15 M NaCl-5 mM MgCl2-25 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5) and centrifuged for 140 min at 35,000 rpm in an SW41 rotor. The gradients were fractionated with a Densiflow apparatus (Buchler Instruments, Lawrence, Kans.), and 0.6-ml fractions were collected. RNA was prepared from each fraction using TRIzol (Gibco-BRL). The RNA was resolved by agarose gel electrophoresis and detected by staining with ethidium bromide. A second aliquot of RNA from each fraction was treated with formaldehyde, resolved by agarose gel electrophoresis, transferred to nitrocellulose, and analyzed for SLBP and GAPDH mRNA as described above.
Chemicals. Hydroxyurea and N-acetyl-leucyl-leucyl-methioninal (LLM) were obtained from Sigma. Aphidicolin and carbobenzoxy-L-leucyl-L-leucyl-L-leucinal (Mg132) were obtained from Calbiochem.
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RESULTS |
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Histone mRNAs are tightly regulated during the cell cycle at multiple steps. Much of the regulation is due to the 3' end of histone mRNA (18, 56). The protein which binds the 3' end of histone mRNA, SLBP, participates in many steps of histone mRNA metabolism in both the nucleus (9) and the cytoplasm (17). Since SLBP is the only factor that interacts with the 3' end of histone mRNA, it is a possible regulator of histone mRNA during the cell cycle. In the nucleus, SLBP is present as a free protein, which can be detected both by mobility shift assays and by Western blotting (43). SLBP is also present in the cytoplasm on the polyribosomes associated with histone mRNA (9, 17). In contrast to the nuclear SLBP, the cytoplasmic SLBP that is stably bound to histone mRNA cannot be detected by mobility shift assay (17) but can be detected by Western blotting.
To understand the relationship between cell cycle progression and histone mRNA regulation, it is important to study continuously cycling cells. Most studies of cell cycle regulation have utilized cells arrested at different points of the cell cycle, either using "natural" conditions, such as serum starvation, or drugs which arrest cells at various points in the cell cycle. For example, studying the release of serum-starved cells from G0 by stimulation with serum results in analysis of a resting-to-growing transition as well as cell cycle progression.
SLBP is a cell cycle-regulated protein. Few studies have analyzed cell cycle regulation in a system where one can obtain continuously cycling cells. Analysis of CHO cells selected by mitotic shakeoff allows the study of a highly synchronous population of cells whose growth has been minimally perturbed. To obtain enough cells for biochemical measurements, we constructed an automated shakeoff apparatus that allows us to collect 107 mitotic cells in 4 h (11). Mitotic cells are collected every 10 min and can be stored for up to 4 h at 4°C (18, 47). Cells are in metaphase when selected and progress into G1 phase within 30 min after plating. Between 80 and 95% of the cells plated entered S phase, as determined by labeling with BrdU. The cells started to enter S phase after 3 to 5 h, depending on the experiment.
We analyzed the levels of SLBP during G1 and S phase by Western blot with an antibody that we prepared against a synthetic 13-amino-acid peptide corresponding to the C terminus of SLBP (60). No SLBP was detected in mitotic cells by Western blotting, and small amounts were detected in G1 cells 1 or 2 h after plating (Fig. 1A, lanes 1 to 3). As cells entered S phase (3.5 to 5 h), SLBP levels increased approximately 15- to 20-fold and remained constant throughout S phase (Fig. 1A, lanes 4 to 6). As a control, we measured the levels of the mitotic cyclins A and B by Western blotting of the same extracts (Fig. 1A). Cyclins A and B are present in mitotic extracts (which are from metaphase cells) but are rapidly degraded as cells complete mitosis. The levels of histone H3 mRNA in the same experiment were measured by S1 nuclease mapping. As reported previously (18), the increase in histone mRNA levels closely parallels the entry of cells into S phase (Fig. 1B). In contrast, the levels of U7 snRNA, another component of the histone pre-mRNA processing machinery (39, 55), were constant as cells progressed from G1 to S phase (Fig. 1B). Note that SLBP levels were maximal by 3.5 h, when less than 20% of the cells had entered S phase, and that SLBP levels peaked before histone mRNA levels peaked (Fig. 1A and B, lanes 4 and 5).
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SLBP mRNA levels are constant during the cell cycle.
Mouse
and human SLBP mRNAs are each about 1,730 nt, not including the
poly(A) tail (60). We used the mouse SLBP cDNA as a probe to
detect the hamster SLBP mRNA on a Northern blot. The mouse SLBP
cDNA recognizes a 1.9-kb transcript in total hamster RNA by Northern
blotting (Fig. 2), in good agreement with
the expected size of SLBP mRNA. Since the transcript comigrates
with 18S rRNA, total hamster RNA was fractionated into polyadenylated [poly(A)+] and poly(A)
fractions on
oligo(dT)-cellulose (Fig. 2A). The great majority of the 1.9-kb
transcript was detected in the poly(A)+ fraction (Fig. 2A,
lanes 4 to 6) and comigrated with the mouse SLBP mRNA (Fig. 2A,
lane 7), demonstrating that we were detecting the hamster SLBP mRNA
with the mouse probe. Little cross-hybridization was observed to 10 and
20 µg of hamster poly(A)
RNA with the mouse SLBP probe
(Fig. 2A, lanes 2 and 3). All of the histone H3 mRNA was in the
poly(A)
fraction (Fig. 2A, lanes 2 and 3), and the GAPDH
mRNA was in the poly(A)+ fraction.
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Regulation of SLBP during the G1-to-S-phase
transition.
The low levels of SLBP in G1 cells could
be due to synthesis and rapid degradation of the SLBP during
G1 or to a failure to translate SLBP mRNA. The mitotic
cyclins, for example, continue to be synthesized and rapidly degraded
during G1 in both mammalian cells (4) and yeast
cells (46). To determine whether the SLBP is rapidly
degraded by the proteasome in G1, we treated G1 cells with the proteasome inhibitor Mg132 for 1 h. The levels of
SLBP were unaffected by treatment of G1 cells with Mg132
(Fig. 3A, lanes 1 to 4), although cyclin
A protein levels increased three- to fivefold (Fig. 3A, lane 7). An
inactive analogue of the inhibitor, LLM, had no effect on either SLBP
or cyclin A levels. Thus, rapid turnover of SLBP by the proteasome is
not responsible for the low levels of SLBP in G1. We cannot
rule out that a mechanism other than the proteasome could be
responsible for rapidly degrading SLBP in G1.
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SLBP accumulates in late G1 phase.
To assess
whether the increase in SLBP levels required ongoing DNA replication,
we arrested the cells collected by mitotic shakeoff at the
G1/S border by treatment with inhibitors of DNA synthesis.
One hour after plating, when all the cells were still in
G1, they were treated for 4 h with either aphidicolin,
which blocks DNA polymerase
, or hydroxyurea, which inhibits
ribonucleotide reductase. Most of the untreated control cells have
entered S phase by this time (5 h after mitosis). In contrast, <1% of
the cells treated with the inhibitors were synthesizing DNA 5 h
after mitosis, as assayed by BrdU labeling.
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Half-life of SLBP in CHO cells.
To assess the half-life of
SLBP in CHO cells, we pulse-labeled both asynchronous cells and S-phase
cells (5 h after plating) with [35S]methionine for 20 min, the label was washed out, and the cells were chased in medium
containing excess unlabeled methionine for various amounts of time. The
amount of labeled SLBP was determined by antibody precipitation
followed by gel electrophoresis, as in Fig. 3. SLBP has a half-life of
about 2 h in either asynchronous or S-phase cells (Fig.
5). Since there is at least a 10- to
20-fold decrease in SLBP levels in the 2 h between the end of S
phase and entry into mitosis, the half-life of SLBP must be much
shorter than 2 h between the end of S phase and mitosis. The data
shown are for one of three experiments that gave similar results.
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Regulation of SLBP in HeLa cells.
It is not possible to
directly collect G2-M cells by mitotic selection because
the cells enter S phase over a 2-h period (3 to 5 h postmitosis)
and hence do not synchronously exit S phase and progress through the
short 2-h G2-M period asynchronously. To obtain a
population of synchronous cells from late S phase through mitosis, we
synchronized HeLa cells at the beginning of S phase by using a double
thymidine block. HeLa cells were chosen because they arrest efficiently
and, more important, essentially 100% of the cells reenter the cell
cycle and progress synchronously through S phase and mitosis into
G1. These arrested HeLa cells are not appropriate for
studying the changes that occur as cells enter S phase because these
cells have already progressed to the G1/S border, resulting
in the accumulation of SLBP (Fig. 4A and Fig.
6B, lane 2). To obtain HeLa cells in
G1, we arrested the cells with thymidine, released them,
and then arrested them in mitosis with nocodazole. When these cells are
released, they progress through G1 to S phase.
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SLBP is degraded by the proteasome at the end of S phase. The levels of histone mRNA increased rapidly after release from the thymidine block and remained high as cells progressed through S phase and then declined dramatically (Fig. 6C), at about the same time as the levels of SLBP protein dropped precipitously.
The degradation of SLBP at the end of S phase is prevented by treatment with proteasome inhibitors. Cells were synchronized at the G1/S boundary by double thymidine block, released, and allowed to progress into S phase. At 4 h after release, when cells are in mid- to late S phase, parallel plates of cells were treated with either the proteasome inhibitor Mg132 or the inactive analog LLM or left untreated. Cells were harvested at 2-h intervals after treatment with the proteasome inhibitor. The levels of SLBP increased in the cells treated with the proteasome inhibitor (Fig. 7A, lanes 5, 8, and 11), suggesting that SLBP is rapidly degraded by the proteasome as cells enter G2 phase. In addition, the major form of SLBP which accumulated in the presence of the proteasome inhibitor has a lower electrophoretic mobility than the bulk of the SLBP present at other phases of the cell cycle (Fig. 7A, lanes 5, 8, and 11). Treatment of these samples with calf intestinal phosphatase resulted in all the SLBP migrating as a single component (Fig. 7B, lanes 2 and 4). This result demonstrates that a phosphorylated form of SLBP accumulates in the presence of a proteasome inhibitor in late-S/G2 cells. It is possible that this phosphorylated SLBP is the form that is rapidly targeted for degradation by the proteasome. The rapid degradation of SLBP occurs only at the end of S phase, since treatment of asynchronous cells (not shown) or G1 cells (Fig. 3 and Fig. 8) did not result in a significant increase in SLBP concentrations or an increase in the amount of phosphorylated SLBP.
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Translation of SLBP mRNA is regulated in HeLa cells during
G1.
The HeLa cells arrested by double thymidine block
at the G1/S border have already accumulated SLBP. To obtain
HeLa cells which progress through G1 into S phase, cells
were synchronized by arrest at mitosis using nocodazole as described in
Materials and Methods. HeLa cells were released from the mitotic block,
and the SLBP levels were measured as the cells progressed through
G1 into S phase. The cells complete mitosis 2 to 4 h
after release from nocodazole and start to enter S phase about 12 to
14 h after release from nocodazole (Fig.
8A). As in the CHO cells, SLBP levels
remained low during G1 and increased as cells entered S
phase (Fig. 8B, lanes 1 to 7). We measured the levels of SLBP mRNA
as cells progress through G1 (Fig. 8C, lanes 1 to 5). The
level of SLBP mRNA was constant through late G1 and S
phase. There was a decrease in SLBP mRNA in cells arrested with
nocodazole (not shown). This is probably due to nocodazole's holding
the cells in mitosis, which will greatly reduce the rate of
transcription. In addition, a proportion of the cells never progress
after being arrested with nocodazole, and these cells never adhere to
the plate. These cells were discarded 6 h after release.
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DISCUSSION |
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Histone mRNA levels increase and decrease rapidly about 35-fold during every cell cycle (18). To accomplish this dramatic regulation, histone gene expression is regulated at multiple steps (35, 49). Much of the regulation is posttranscriptional and is mediated by the 3' end of histone mRNA. Since SLBP is a component of the histone mRNP (17) and hence must be present in stoichiometric amounts (1 molecule per molecule of histone mRNA), accumulation of histone mRNA without SLBP is not possible. It is likely that SLBP is a major trans-acting factor that contributes to the cell cycle regulation of histone mRNA. One major regulatory step is at the level of formation of the 3' end of histone mRNA (18, 57). SLBP is essential for this reaction in vitro (9, 10, 44) and in vivo (44). Two possible mechanisms for regulating histone mRNA processing have been proposed: regulation of a heat-labile factor, which has not been well characterized, required for processing (15, 31), and the blocking of the 5' end of U7 snRNA by a negative regulator (21). Other laboratories have not observed any alterations in U7 snRNP during the cell cycle (2). The low levels of SLBP in G1 cells would certainly prevent accumulation of cytoplasmic histone mRNA. The results reported here suggest that regulation of the SLBP could account for the posttranscriptional component of histone mRNA metabolism.
SLBP accumulates late in G1-phase and is present in both HeLa and CHO cells arrested at the G1/S border. These cells do not accumulate histone mRNA. It is possible that histone pre-mRNA processing has been activated in these cells by the accumulation of SLBP, but any histone mRNA formed would be very unstable because DNA synthesis has been inhibited (53). Alternatively, the cells arrested at the G1/S border might be lacking another factor required for histone pre-mRNA processing.
Although SLBP protein levels are regulated, the level of SLBP mRNA is not regulated in continuously growing cells (Fig. 2 and 6) or in serum-stimulated fibroblasts (M. L. Whitfield and W. F. Marzluff, unpublished results). Similar results were obtained for the SLBP mRNA in a study of global changes in steady-state mRNA levels in serum-stimulated cells using cDNA microarrays by Brown and coworkers (23). SLBP mRNA is readily detectable in all adult tissues (33), suggesting that the synthesis of SLBP protein is also regulated posttranscriptionally in normal somatic cells. Since regulation of SLBP is at the level of translation of preformed SLBP mRNA, SLBP concentrations increase rapidly once the signal to initiate SLBP synthesis is generated. The rapid synthesis of SLBP in late G1 results in a large amount of free, active SLBP which accumulates just prior to the maximal accumulation of histone mRNA (cf. Fig. 1A and C, lanes 4). Synthesis and export of histone mRNA from the nucleus is very rapid (48), suggesting that activation of SLBP mRNA translation would result in very rapid accumulation of cytoplasmic histone mRNA. Accumulation of SLBP occurs late in G1, after induction of cyclin E (unpublished results), and translation of SLBP mRNA may be activated by the same signals that ultimately result in entry into S phase.
Regulation of translation of selective mRNAs is probably critical for progression from G1 to S phase. Overexpression of eIF4E, one of the limiting factors for translation, results in transformation of cells (30), and one of the targets of this response is likely to be cyclin D mRNA (45). Activation of translation through activation of the Tor kinase, which results in phosphorylation of inhibitors of eIF4E, is an essential component of progression from G1 to S phase (29). Thus, translational regulation of key proteins required for cell cycle progression may be a common theme in cell cycle regulation.
At the end of S phase there is a rapid degradation of histone mRNA (13). The stem-loop at the 3' end of the histone mRNA and presumably the bound SLBP are necessary for the change in histone mRNA half-life (42). Since SLBP levels remain constant when cells are treated with inhibitors of DNA replication (M. L. Whitfield and W. F. Marzluff, unpublished results) and histone mRNA is rapidly degraded (53), degradation of SLBP is not required for the degradation of histone mRNA. This result suggests that the degradation of SLBP is the result of a cell cycle signal generated at the end of S phase, while the degradation of histone mRNA occurs in response to cessation of DNA replication, either as a result of inhibition or at completion of S phase.
Other critical cell cycle transitions are driven by the rapid degradation of regulatory proteins (22, 27). During mitosis, the anaphase-promoting complex (APC) is activated, resulting in the degradation of cyclins A and B (20) as well as Pds1 (6) and probably other proteins necessary for mitosis. The APC recognizes a specific sequence, termed the destruction box, and directs ubiquitination and degradation of this set of proteins. The APC is activated in mitosis and remains active during the subsequent G1 phase (4). As cells progress from G1 to S phase, there is degradation of the Cdk inhibitor, p27, in mammalian cells (41) and degradation of Sic1 in yeast cells by a multiprotein complex termed the SCF (1, 12, 54, 58). The SCF is a multiprotein complex containing Skp-1, cullin/Cdc53, and a member of a diverse group of proteins containing an F-box motif. The F-box is a 30-amino-acid motif present in diverse proteins which interacts with Skp-1 and helps recruit phosphorylated substrates for ubiquitination (1, 12, 54, 58).
Subsequent purification and cloning of the subunits of the APC complex identified a subunit, APC-2, which has homology with the cullins (62, 64). Recently it was discovered that the APC and SCF contain an additional conserved subunit. APC11 (64) has considerable homology with ROC/Rbx1/HRT1 (26, 40, 51), a subunit of the SCF complex. The cullins represent a multigene family containing at least six members in mammalian cells (28), and there are at least two distinct roc genes (40), which may constitute a series of distinct ubiquitin ligase complexes (Y. Xiong, personal communication). These findings suggest that a conserved core is shared by different E3 ligases that are involved in regulation of diverse cellular processes (63). Many proteins are targeted for degradation during the G1-to-S transition by a regulatory phosphorylation (8, 52, 59). It is possible that other ubiquitin ligase complexes also regulate degradation of a set of proteins at the S-G2 transition and that SLBP might be one of the substrates targeted for degradation at this time.
There are distinct differences between the regulation of SLBP and the regulation of histone mRNA. SLBP accumulates in late G1, and there are high levels of SLBP in late G1 cells which contain little histone mRNA. Similarly, histone mRNA is rapidly degraded when DNA replication is inhibited, but SLBP is not degraded during this time. It is possible that processing of histone mRNA is activated in cells blocked at the G1/S border but the histone mRNA is very unstable (as it is in S-phase cells in which DNA synthesis is blocked). Clearly the signals regulating histone mRNA accumulation and SLBP accumulation are distinct. Histone mRNA levels are directly coupled to DNA replication, while SLBP is probably regulated by cell cycle signals which occur independently of DNA replication.
However, SLBP must be synthesized each cell cycle to allow accumulation of histone mRNA. The regulation of SLBP accumulation is determined by a cell cycle signal that results in an increased rate of translation of SLBP mRNA as cells progress from G1 to S phase (Fig. 3). SLBP is then degraded near the S-G2 border, as a result of a second cell cycle signal, making new synthesis of SLBP necessary for the next round of histone mRNA synthesis (Fig. 1). Thus, as with histone mRNA, both the biosynthesis and stability of SLBP are regulated during the cell cycle. We are currently investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying these two regulatory events.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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L.-X.Z. and A.B. contributed equally to this work.
This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health to W.F.M. (GM 29832) and M.M.H. (GM 467658).
We thank Beth Alexander for technical assistance, Zbig Dominski for the data on U7 snRNA, and Yue Xiong and Bob Duronio for critical review of the manuscript.
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FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Program in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, CB# 7100, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599. Phone: (919) 962-8920. Fax: (919) 966-6821. E-mail: marzluff{at}med.unc.edu.
On leave from Department of Surgery, St. Marianna University School
of Medicine, Kawasaki 216, Japan.
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