Post-transcriptional Regulation Drives Temporal Compartmentalization of the Yeast Metabolic Cycle

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that post-transcriptional mRNA degradation, regulated by PUF-family proteins, plays a crucial role in the temporal compartmentalization of gene expression during the yeast metabolic cycle.

Contribution

It provides the first integrated computational analysis linking PUF-family mediated mRNA degradation to yeast metabolic cycle regulation.

Findings

Post-transcriptional regulation is essential for yeast metabolic cycle stability.

PUF-family proteins selectively target mRNAs for degradation.

mRNA degradation timing correlates with metabolic cycle phases.

Abstract

The maintainance of a stable periodicity during the yeast metabolic cycle involving approximately half of the genome requires a very strict and efficient control of gene expression. For this reason, the metabolic cycle is a very good candidate for testing the role of a class of post-transcriptional regulators, the so called PUF-family, whose genome-wide mRNA binding specificity was recently experimentally assessed. Here we show that an integrated computational analysis of gene expression time series during the metabolic cycle and the mRNA binding specificity of PUF-family proteins allow for a clear demonstration of the very specific role exerted by selective post-transcriptional mRNA degradation in yeast metabolic cycle global regulation.