The box C/D small nucleolar RNPs (snoRNPs) are essential for the processing and modification of rRNA. TIP48 and TIP49 are two related AAA ؉ proteins that are essential for the formation of box C/D snoRNPs. These proteins are key components of the pre-snoRNP complexes, but their exact role in box C/D snoRNP biogenesis is largely uncharacterized. Here we report that TIP48 and TIP49 interact with one another in vitro, and only the TIP48/TIP49 complex, but not the individual proteins, possesses significant ATPase activity. Loss of TIP48 and TIP49 results in a change in pre-snoRNA levels and a loss of U3 snoRNA signal in the Cajal body. We show that TIP48 and TIP49 make multiple interactions with core snoRNP proteins and biogenesis factors and that these interactions are often regulated by the presence of ATP. Furthermore, we demonstrate that TIP48 and TIP49 efficiently bridge interactions between the core box C/D proteins NOP56 or NOP58 and 15.5K. Our data imply that the snoRNP assembly factor NUFIP can regulate the interactions between TIP48 and TIP49 and the core box C/D proteins. We suggest that snoRNP assembly involves an intricate series of interactions that are mediated/regulated by bridging factors and chaperones.In the eukaryotic nucleolus, small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are involved in the processing and modification of rRNA (1,20,38). The H/ACA snoRNAs and box C/D snoRNAs function as sequence-specific guides to direct the isomerization of uridine to pseudouridine and the 2Ј-O methylation of rRNA, (1,20,38). A subset of box C/D snoRNAs that includes U3, U8, and U14 box C/D snoRNAs is essential for rRNA processing. These snoRNAs base pair with specific regions of the pre-rRNA and have been proposed to function as RNA chaperones by regulating rRNA folding (36). Box C/D snoRNAs contain a conserved box C/D motif which is involved in the binding of the four core proteins, 15.5K, NOP56, NOP58, and the methyltransferase fibrillarin (10). The core proteins assemble onto the snoRNA in a stepwise manner with 15.5K first binding to the k-turn element in the box C/D motif followed by the recruitment of the remaining core proteins into the complex (41,45).Most box C/D snoRNAs are encoded within the introns of protein-coding genes and are processed from the spliced intron lariat (9,19,21,38). In contrast, a subset of box C/D snoRNAs, including U3, U8, and U13, are independently transcribed by RNA polymerase II (9, 28, 46). The initial transcripts of these genes contain an m 7 G cap and a short 3Ј extension. During snoRNP biogenesis the m 7 G cap is converted into an m 3 G cap and the 3Ј extension is removed by exonucleases (9, 28, 46). The maturation of the snoRNA and the assembly of the snoRNP is an intricate process involving the dynamic and temporal association of numerous factors in a large multiprotein pre-snoRNP complex (29,42,43). These factors include proteins linked to snoRNP assembly (TIP48, TIP49, NUFIP, TAF9, NOP17, and BCD1), molecular chaperones (HSP90 and HSC70), nucleocytoplasmic transport factors (PHAX, ...