Eukaryotic Cell doi:10.1128/EC.00215-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.
Elucidating the role of C/D snoRNA in rRNA processing and modification in Trypanosoma brucei
Sarit Barth,
Boaz Shalem,
Avraham Hury,
Itai Dov Tkacz,
Xue-hai Liang,
Shai Uliel,
Inna Myslyuk,
Tirza Doniger,
Mali Salmon-Divon,
Ron Unger,
and
Shulamit Michaeli*
The Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email:
michaes{at}mail.biu.ac.il.
 |
Abstract |
|---|
Most of eukaryotic C/D small nucleolar RNAs guide 2'-O-methylation (Nm) on rRNA and are also involved in rRNA processing. The four core proteins that bind C/D snoRNA in Trypanosoma brucei include Fibrillarin (NOP1), NOP56, NOP58 and SNU13. RNAi silencing of NOP1 identified rRNA processing and modification defects that caused lethality. Systematic mapping of 2-O-methyls on rRNA revealed the existence of hypermethylation in certain positions of the rRNA in the bloodstream form of the parasites, suggesting that this modification may assist the parsite in coping with the major temperature changes during cycling between their insect and mammalian hosts. The rRNA processing defects of NOP1-depleted cells suggest the involvement of C/D snoRNA in trypanosome-specific rRNA processing events to generate the small rRNA (srRNA) fragments. MRP RNA, which is involved in rRNA processing, was identified in this study in one of the snoRNA gene clusters, thus suggesting that trypanosome utilize a combination of unique C/D snoRNA and conserved snoRNAs for rRNA processing.