Summary The eukaryotic circadian oscillators consist of autoregulatory negative feedback loops. However, little is known about the role of post-transcriptional regulation of RNA in circadian oscillators. In the Neurospora circadian negative feedback loop, FRQ and FRH form the FFC complex that represses frq transcription. Here we show that FFC also binds frq RNA and interacts with the exosome to regulate frq RNA decay. Consequently, frq RNA is robustly rhythmic as it is more stable when FRQ levels are low. Silencing of RRP44, the catalytic subunit of the exosome, elevates frq RNA levels and impairs clock function. In addition, rrp44 is a clock-controlled gene and a direct target of the WHITE COLLAR complex, and RRP44 controls the circadian expression of at least one ccg. Taken together, these results suggest that FFC and the exosome are part of a post-transcriptional negative feedback loop that regulates frq transcript levels and the circadian output pathway.

Codon usage biases are found in all genomes and influence protein expression levels. The codon usage effect on protein expression was thought to be mainly due to its impact on translation. Here, we show that transcription termination is an important driving force for codon usage bias in eukaryotes. Using Neurospora crassa as a model organism, we demonstrated that introduction of rare codons results in premature transcription termination (PTT) within open reading frames and abolishment of full-length mRNA. PTT is a wide-spread phenomenon in Neurospora, and there is a strong negative correlation between codon usage bias and PTT events. Rare codons lead to the formation of putative poly(A) signals and PTT. A similar role for codon usage bias was also observed in mouse cells. Together, these results suggest that codon usage biases co-evolve with the transcription termination machinery to suppress premature termination of transcription and thus allow for optimal gene expression.

Eukaryotic circadian clocks employ autoregulatory negative feedback loops to control daily rhythms. In the filamentous fungus Neurospora, FRQ, FRH, WC-1, and WC-2 are the core components of the circadian negative feedback loop. To close the transcription-based negative feedback loop, the FRQ-FRH complex inhibits the activity of the WC complex in the nucleus by promoting the casein kinases-mediated WC phosphorylation. Despite its essential role in the nucleus, most FRQ is found in the cytoplasm. In this study, we mapped the FRQ regions that are important for its cellular localization. We show that the C-terminal part of FRQ, particularly the FRQ-FRH interaction domain, plays a major role in controlling FRQ localization. Both the mutation of the FRQ-FRH interaction domain and the down-regulation of FRH result in the nuclear enrichment of FRQ, suggesting that FRH regulates FRQ localization via a physical interaction. To study the role of FRQ phosphorylation, we examined the FRQ localization in wild-type as well as an array of FRQ kinase, FRQ phosphatase, and FRQ phosphorylation site mutants. Collectively, our results suggest that FRQ phosphorylation does not play a significant role in regulating its cellular localization. Instead, we find that phosphorylation of FRQ inhibits its transcriptional repressor activity in the circadian negative feedback loop. Such an effect is achieved by inhibiting the ability of FRQ to interact with WCC and casein kinase 1a. Our results indicate that the rhythmic FRQ phosphorylation profile observed is an important part of the negative feedback mechanism that drives robust circadian gene expression.The eukaryotic circadian oscillators are comprised of autoregulatory negative feedback loops (1-5). Despite the evolutionary distance between the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa and higher eukaryotes, their circadian oscillator mechanisms share remarkable similarities (6 -8). In N. crassa, two PAS (PER-ARNT-SIM) domain-containing transcription factors, WC-1 and WC-2, form a complex (WCC) 2 that activates the transcription of the frq gene by binding to its promoter (9 -13). FRQ protein binds FRH to form the FRQ-FRH complex (FFC), which acts as the negative element in the circadian negative feedback loop (14 -17). To close the circadian negative feedback loop, FFC decreases frq mRNA-levels by promoting frq mRNA degradation and by inhibiting frq transcription. To repress frq transcription, FFC inhibits WCC activity by recruiting casein kinase 1a (CK-1a) and CKII to phosphorylate the WC proteins, resulting in a decrease of WCC DNA binding activity and an increase of WCC nuclear export (9, 10, 14 -24). Like the animal PER proteins, FRQ is progressively phosphorylated upon its synthesis and becomes extensively phosphorylated before its disappearance, resulting in robust oscillations of its level and phosphorylation profile (25). Under normal physiological conditions, FRQ is phosphorylated by CK-1a, CKII, and PKA (21,22,(25)(26)(27)(28). On the other hand, FRQ is also dephosphorylated and st...

Summary Argonaute proteins are required for the biogenesis of some small RNAs (sRNAs), including the PIWI-interacting RNAs and some microRNAs. How Argonautes mediate maturation of sRNAs independent of their slicer activity is not clear. The maturation of the Neurospora miRNA-like sRNA, milR-1, requires the Argonaute protein QDE-2, Dicer, and QIP. Here, we reconstitute this Argonaute-dependent sRNA biogenesis pathway in vitro and discover that the RNA exosome is also required for milR-1 production. Our results demonstrate that QDE-2 mediates milR-1 maturation by recruiting exosome and QIP and by determining the size of milR-1. The exonuclease QIP first separates the QDE-2-bound pre-milR-1 duplex and then mediates 3’ to 5’ trimming and maturation of pre-milRNA together with exosome using a hand-over mechanism. In addition, exosome is also important for the decay of sRNAs. Together, our results establish a biochemical mechanism of an Argonaute-dependent sRNA biogenesis pathway and critical roles of exosome in sRNA processing.

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