Processing of the ribosomal ubiquitin-like fusion protein FUBI-eS30/FAU is required for 40S maturation and depends on USP36

Abstract

In humans and other holozoan organisms, the ribosomal protein eS30 is synthesized as a fusion protein with the ubiquitin-like protein FUBI. However, FUBI is not part of the mature 40S ribosomal subunit and cleaved off by an as-of-yet unidentified protease. How FUBI-eS30 processing is coordinated with 40S subunit maturation is unknown. To study the mechanism and importance of FUBI-eS30 processing, we expressed non-cleavable mutants in human cells, which affected late steps of cytoplasmic 40S maturation, including the maturation of 18S rRNA and recycling of late-acting ribosome biogenesis factors. Differential affinity purification of wild-type and non-cleavable FUBI-eS30 mutants identified the deubiquitinase USP36 as a candidate FUBI-eS30 processing enzyme. Depletion of USP36 by RNAi or CRISPRi indeed impaired FUBI-eS30 processing and moreover, purified USP36 cut FUBI-eS30 in vitro. Together, these data demonstrate the functional importance of FUBI-eS30 cleavage and identify USP36 as a novel protease involved in this process.

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Article and author information

Author details

  1. Jasmin van den Heuvel

    Institute of Biochemistry, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Caroline Ashiono

    Institute of Biochemistry, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Ludovic C Gillet

    Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1001-3265
  4. Kerstin Dörner

    Institute of Biochemistry, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Emanuel Wyler

    Institute of Biochemistry, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-9884-1806
  6. Ivo Zemp

    Institute of Biochemistry, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Ulrike Kutay

    Institute of Biochemistry, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
    For correspondence
    ulrike.kutay@bc.biol.ethz.ch
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-8257-7465

Funding

Swiss National Science Foundation (31003A_166565)

  • Ulrike Kutay

Swiss National Science Foundation (NCCR RNA and Disease)

  • Ulrike Kutay

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Michael Buszczak, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States

Version history

  1. Received: May 20, 2021
  2. Preprint posted: May 22, 2021 (view preprint)
  3. Accepted: July 27, 2021
  4. Accepted Manuscript published: July 28, 2021 (version 1)
  5. Version of Record published: August 10, 2021 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2021, van den Heuvel et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Jasmin van den Heuvel
  2. Caroline Ashiono
  3. Ludovic C Gillet
  4. Kerstin Dörner
  5. Emanuel Wyler
  6. Ivo Zemp
  7. Ulrike Kutay
(2021)
Processing of the ribosomal ubiquitin-like fusion protein FUBI-eS30/FAU is required for 40S maturation and depends on USP36
eLife 10:e70560.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.70560

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https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.70560

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