Background: mTORC1 plays an important role in the regulation of TOP mRNA translation. Results: LARP1 is a target of mTORC1 that associates with TOP mRNAs via their 5ЈTOP motif to repress their translation. Conclusion: LARP1 represses TOP mRNA translation downstream of mTORC1. Significance: We elucidate an important novel signaling pathway downstream of mTORC1 that controls the production of ribosomes and translation factors in eukaryotic cells.

The N-end rule links the half-life of a protein to the identity of its N-terminal residue. Destabilizing N-terminal residues are recognized by E3 ubiquitin ligases, termed N-recognins. A conserved structural domain called the UBR box is responsible for their specificity. Here we report the crystal structures of the UBR boxes of the human N-recognins UBR1 and UBR2, alone and in complex with an N-end rule peptide, Arg-Ile-Phe-Ser. These structures show that the UBR box adopts a previously undescribed fold stabilized through the binding of three zinc ions to form a binding pocket for type 1 N-degrons. NMR experiments reveal a preference for N-terminal arginine. Peptide binding is abrogated by N-terminal acetylation of the peptide or loss of the positive charge of the N-terminal residue. These results rationalize and refine the empirical rules for the classification of type 1 N-degrons. We also confirm that a missense mutation in UBR1 that is responsible for Johanson-Blizzard syndrome leads to UBR box unfolding and loss of function.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in a broad variety of biological processes by inhibiting translation initiation and by destabilizing target mRNAs. The CCR4-NOT complex effects miRNA-mediated silencing, at least in part through interactions with 4E-T (eIF4E transporter) protein, but the precise mechanism is unknown. Here we show that the cap-binding eIF4E-homologous protein 4EHP is an integral component of the miRNA-mediated silencing machinery. We demonstrate that the cap-binding activity of 4EHP contributes to the translational silencing by miRNAs through the CCR4-NOT complex. Our results show that 4EHP competes with eIF4E for binding to 4E-T, and this interaction increases the affinity of 4EHP for the cap. We propose a model wherein the 4E-T/4EHP interaction engenders a closed-loop mRNA conformation that blocks translational initiation of miRNA targets.M icroRNAs (miRNAs) are short, ∼22-nucleotide noncoding RNAs that affect gene expression in most eukaryotes. miRNAs mediate posttranscriptional silencing by guiding the miRNA-induced silencing complex (miRISC), an assembly of Argonautes and GW182/TNRC6 proteins, to target mRNAs. Target recognition initiates a succession of events: mRNA translational repression, deadenylation, and mRNA decay (1). miRNAs impair the function of eIF4F, a three-subunit complex composed of eIF4E, the m 7 GTP (cap)-interacting factor; eIF4G, a scaffolding protein; and eIF4A, a DEAD-box RNA helicase (2-5). The silencing activity of miRISC is mediated by the CCR4-NOT deadenylase complex through the scaffolding subunit, CNOT1 (6-8). CNOT1 recruits the DDX6 and 4E-T (eIF4E transporter, also known as EIF4ENIF1) proteins, which are important for miRNA-mediated silencing (9-16). The 4E-T protein is a conserved eIF4E-binding protein, which directly binds to the dorsal surface of eIF4E through its canonical eIF4E-binding YX 4 LL (Y 30 TKEELL) motif and impairs the eIF4E/eIF4G interaction and translation initiation (17). The 4E-T protein also facilitates the decay of CCR4-NOT-targeted mRNAs by linking the 3′-terminal mRNA decay machinery to the cap via its interaction with eIF4E (13).In mammals, eIF4E is the best-studied member of a family of proteins composed of eIF4E (eIF4E1), 4EHP (4E-homologous protein; eIF4E2), and eIF4E3. The 4EHP and eIF4E proteins share 28% sequence identity (18,19). The 4EHP protein is ubiquitously expressed, and it is 5-10 times less abundant than eIF4E in a number of mammalian cell lines (18)(19)(20). Like eIF4E, 4EHP binds to 4E-T, but in sharp contrast to eIF4E, it does not associate with eIF4G (18, 21). The 4EHP protein has a 30-to 100-fold weaker affinity for the cap than eIF4E due to a twoamino acid substitution in its cap-binding pocket (22).The 4EHP protein has primarily been documented as a translation repressor. In the Drosophila embryo, 4EHP associates with the RNA binding protein Bicoid to repress caudal mRNA translation (23). Similarly, 4EHP also represses the hunchback mRNA by binding to the nanos repressive element complex, which consists of nanos...

Nurr1/NR4A2 is an orphan nuclear receptor, and currently there are no known natural ligands that bind Nurr1. A recent metabolomics study identified unsaturated fatty acids, including arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), that interact with the ligand-binding domain (LBD) of a related orphan receptor, Nur77/NR4A1. However, the binding location and whether these ligands bind other NR4A receptors were not defined. Here, we show that unsaturated fatty acids also interact with the Nurr1 LBD, and solution NMR spectroscopy reveals the binding epitope of DHA at its putative ligand-binding pocket. Biochemical assays reveal that DHA-bound Nurr1 interacts with high affinity with a peptide derived from PIASγ, a protein that interacts with Nurr1 in cellular extracts, and DHA also affects cellular Nurr1 transactivation. This work is the first structural report of a natural ligand binding to a canonical NR4A ligand-binding pocket, and indicates a natural ligand can bind and affect Nurr1 function.

A subset of nuclear receptors (NRs) function as obligate heterodimers with retinoid X receptor (RXR), allowing integration of ligand-dependent signals across the dimer interface via an unknown structural mechanism. Using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, x-ray crystallography and hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX) mass spectrometry, here we show an allosteric mechanism through which RXR co-operates with a permissive dimer partner, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ, while rendered generally unresponsive by a non-permissive dimer partner, thyroid hormone (TR) receptor. Amino acid residues that mediate this allosteric mechanism comprise an evolutionarily conserved network discovered by statistical coupling analysis (SCA). This SCA network acts as a signalling rheostat to integrate signals between dimer partners, ligands and coregulator-binding sites, thereby affecting signal transmission in RXR heterodimers. These findings define rules guiding how NRs integrate two ligand-dependent signalling pathways into RXR heterodimer-specific responses.