Puf3 contributes to changes in mRNA solubility, translation elongation dynamics at rare arginine codons and loss of protein homeostasis in cells lacking Not4

The Not proteins of the Ccr4-Not complex regulate translation elongation dynamics, essential for proper folding and assembly of new proteins. In yeast, ribosomes with non-optimal codons in the A-site are enriched within the pool of ribosomes bound by Not4 and Not5. Such ribosomes accumulate in cells lacking Not4 or Not5 that show defects in co-translational assembly and aggregation of new proteins. Recently we observed that depletion of Not1 and Not4 inversely regulate changes in mRNA solubility, correlating with inverse codon-specific changes in A-site ribosome dwelling occupancies (RDOs). Here we describe that mRNAs less soluble upon Not4 depletion are enriched for targets of the RNA-binding protein Puf3. We determine that Puf3 contributes to inverse changes of A-site RDOs upon Not1 and Not4 depletion, in particular at rare arginine codons, and it contributes to changes in mRNA solubility in not4{Delta}. Moreover, deletion of Puf3 suppresses temperature sensitivity and protein aggregation in the not4{Delta} strain, while overexpression of Puf3 is toxic. Puf3 post-translational modifications and the Puf3 interactome are altered in not4{Delta}. Taken together, our results associate alterations in Puf3 post-translational status and function, including contribution to translation elongation dynamics, with not4{Delta} mutant phenotypes. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=103 SRC="FIGDIR/small/695943v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (18K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@855afdorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@118addaorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@13dd015org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@12824c6_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG