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Free keywords:
MESSENGER-RNA DECAY; ELONGATION-FACTOR TU; QUALITY-CONTROL SYSTEMS;
FACTOR EF-TU; NO-GO DECAY; CRYSTAL-STRUCTURE; STRUCTURAL BASIS;
MAMMALIAN-CELLS; COMPLEX; DEGRADATION
Abstract:
Ski7 is a cofactor of the cytoplasmic exosome in budding yeast, functioning in both mRNA turnover and non-stop decay (NSD), a surveillance pathway that degrades faulty mRNAs lacking a stop codon. The C-terminal region of Ski7 (Ski7(C)) shares overall sequence similarity with the translational GTPase (trGTPase) Hbs1, but whether Ski7 has retained the properties of a trGTPase is unclear. Here, we report the high-resolution structures of Ski7(C) bound to either intact guanosine triphosphate (GTP) or guanosine diphosphate-Pi. The individual domains of Ski7(C) adopt the conformation characteristic of active trGTPases. Furthermore, the nucleotide-binding site of Ski7(C) shares similar features compared with active trGTPases, notably the presence of a characteristic monovalent cation. However, a suboptimal polar residue at the putative catalytic site and an unusual polar residue that interacts with the g-phosphate of GTP distinguish Ski7 from other trGTPases, suggesting it might function rather as a GTP-binding protein than as a GTP-hydrolyzing enzyme.
