Brzezniak, p. 1
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TITLE:
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Human ELAC2 gene encodes the tRNAseZ responsible for mitochondrial tRNA 3’ processing
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which acts on precursors already cleaved by RNAseP
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AUTHORS:
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Lien Karolina Brzezniak1*, Monika Bijata1*, Roman Jakub Szczesny1, 2, Piotr Stepien1, 2.
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*These authors contributed equally to this work
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Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw and 2 Institute
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of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego 5a, 02-106 Warsaw,
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Poland
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RUNNING TITLE:
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ELAC2 - human mitochondrial tRNase Z.
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KEYWORDS:
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ELAC2; human tRNase-Z; mitochondrial tRNA processing
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ABSTRACT:
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Accurate tRNA processing is crucial for human mitochondrial genome expression, but the
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mechanisms and key enzymes involved are poorly characterized. Here we demonstrate for the first
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time that human protein ELAC2 localizes both in mitochondria and the nucleus. Using the RNAi
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gene silencing in HeLa cells we show that the ELAC2 gene encodes tRNAseZ endonuclease which
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is responsible for the mitochondrial tRNA 3' processing in vivo. In addition we demonstrate that the
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order of precursor cleavage in mitochondria follows the rule that tRNase Z can only cleave
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molecules already processed by RNase P.
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Introduction
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Transcription of the human mitochondrial genome produces long polycistronic precursor
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RNAs which undergo a series of endonucleolytic cleavages resulting in mature mRNAs, rRNAs
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and tRNAs. The tRNA sequences present between almost all mitochondrial genes represent the
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RNA processing sites and the whole process physically resembles the nuclear tRNA maturation
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(Ojala et al. 1980). Since tRNA cleavage seems to be the only way to produce mature
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mitochondrial transcripts, it is of great importance for mitochondrial gene expression and its
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accuracy may have an impact on human health, as there are reports about mitochondrial tRNA
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processing defects leading to respiratory deficiencies (Bindoff et al. 1993; Guan et al. 1998). The
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molecular mechanisms of RNA maturation in human mitochondria are still poorly characterized.
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Two enzymes were proposed to direct tRNA excision from nascent mt transcripts: mtRNase
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P and mt-tRNase Z (Ojala et al. 1981). The identity of mtRNase P acting on 5’ ends of mt tRNA
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sequences is still a subject of controversy: it has been shown that the enzyme requires the nuclear-
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encoded RNA component (Doersen et al. 1985; Puranam and Attardi 2001; Rossmanith and
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Potuschak 2001), but recently an alternative RNaseP was purified from mitochondria which was
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shown to be able to process mt-tRNA precursors at the 5’ end without any RNA component
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(Holzmann et al. 2008; Walker and Engelke 2008).
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Much less is known about the identity and activity of the human tRNAse Z enzyme,
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proposed to be responsible for mitochondrial RNA processing at the 3’ ends (Temperley et al.
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2010). Similarly to the RNA-containing RNase P, tRNAse Z is an evolutionarily conserved protein,
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present ubiquitously throughout the three kingdoms. Two forms of tRNase Z exist in different
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organisms: short tRNase Z-S and long tRNase Z-L (Vogel et al. 2005). Some species (like
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Saccharomyces cerevisiae) have only one tRNase Z responsible for the processing of the 3' end of
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tRNA molecules. The human nuclear genome contains 2 candidate genes for tRNase Z-S and
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tRNase Z-L, called ELAC1 and ELAC2, respectively. Both ELAC1 and ELAC2 exhibit
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endonuclease activity towards 3' unprocessed tRNA precursors (Zhao et al. 2009). Nothing is
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known about the localization or in vivo function of the ELAC1 protein. ELAC2 was shown to
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localize to mitochondria and be downregulated in mtDNA-depleted cells (Mineri et al. 2009).
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Interestingly, it has also been reported that ELAC2 can recognize its target cleavage site using guide
Brzezniak, p. 3
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RNA (Elbarbary et al. 2009) and in consequence cut molecules that are not tRNAs. On the other
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hand, there is evidence on the nuclear localization of ELAC2 (Noda et al. 2006). Moreover, an
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association between ELAC2 gene variants and hereditary prostate cancer formation was
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demonstrated (Xu et al. 2010). ELAC2 was also shown to interact with gamma-tubulin complexes
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which might interfere with cell division and lead to the tumorigenesis (Korver et al. 2003).
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Therefore it seems that ELAC2 may be a multifunctional protein localized to many compartments
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and responsible for different processes in human cells. The question remains whether ELAC2 acts
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as a tRNase Z in human mitochondria.
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In this paper we demonstrate that the human ELAC2 protein localizes to two compartments -
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mitochondria and the nucleus - while ELAC1 localizes exclusively to the cytosol. Silencing of the
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ELAC2 gene results in perturbation in mt-tRNA processing which indicates that this protein is
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indeed the previously unknown mitochondrial tRNAse Z. In addition we demonstrate that the order
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of precursor cleavage in mitochondria follows the rule that tRNase Z can only cleave molecules
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already processed by RNase P.
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Materials & Methods
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Cell culture and transfection
HeLa or 293 T-Rex cells (Invitrogen) were grown on Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium
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(Gibco) supplemented with 10% FBS (Gibco). In case of HEK293T (-TET)-approved FBS was
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used (Clontech). For gene silencing, cells were subjected to siRNA or stealth-RNA transfection
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using Lipofectamine RNAiMAX reagent (Invitrogen). The siRNAs: NC - control siRNA that
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should not target any human gene, siRNA370, siRNA934 and siRNA2048 were obtained from
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GeneCust Europe. The number indicates the position of the first nucleotide in the ELAC2 coding
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sequence. We used stealth-RNAs (Invitrogen): HSS127087, HSS127088 and HSS184340 for
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ELAC2 silencing, in this paper called E2-sth1, E2-sth2 and E2-sth3, respectively; and for MRP1
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knock down: HSS123550, HSS123551 and HSS123552, called P1-sth1, P1-sth2 and P1-sth3,
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respectively. The cells were harvested 72 hrs after RNAi transfection.
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For localization studies cells were plated on cover slips and transfected using
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polyethylenimine (PEI) reagent with 1 µg of pCDNA5/ELAC2-flag or pCDNA5/ELAC1-flag
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constructs 24 hrs prior to immunofluorescence analysis.
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cDNA cloning
ELAC1 and ELAC2 coding sequences were amplified via RT-PCR from the total HeLa
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RNA using following primers: E1-F2: TAGGGGTGGAAGATGTCTATGGATGTG; E1-R2:
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GACCATTTCTTGATTGGAATGCTTATC (for ELAC1) and elacFuL:
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CGCATGTGGGCGCTTTGCTCGC; elacFuR: GATCTTCACTGGGCTCTGACCTTCTTGG (for
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ELAC2).Two constructs were made using pCDNA5/FRT/TO/FLAG (pRSXYZ) vector - a
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derivative of pCDNA5/FRT/TO from Invitrogen - to express flag-tagged ELAC1 and ELAC2
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proteins in human cells.
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Western blots
Protein isolation from cultured cells and western blot analysis were basically performed
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according to standard procedures and as described previously (Szczesny et al. 2010). The following
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antibodies were used: ELAC2 (Proteintech) and actin (Sigma). For endogenous ELAC2 detection
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the polyclonal antibody from Proteintech was used in 1:200 dilution. Secondary rabbit anti-mouse
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and goat anti-rabbit HRP-conjugated antibodies (Calbiochem) were visualized using
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chemiluminescence.
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Immunofluorescence
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The endogenous ELAC2 immunostaining in HeLa and HEK293T cells was performed as
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described previously (Szczesny et al. 2010). Briefly, cells were stained with MitoTracker Orange
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CMTM-Ros (Molecular probes), fixed, permeabilized and incubated with primary ELAC2 antibody
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(Proteintech, 1:50) or FLAG antibody (Sigma) and the secondary antibody conjugated with
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Alexa488 (Molecular Probes). Subsequently, after staining nuclei with Hoechst33342, cells were
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mounted and subjected to fluorescent microscopy.
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RNA manipulations and northern blots
Total RNA from cultured cells was isolated using TRI reagent (Sigma) according to the
manufacturer's instructions.
Northern blot analysis was performed as described previously (Szczesny et al. 2010). In
brief, 3 μg of total RNA was separated in denaturing conditions on a 1% agarose gel containing 1%
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formaldehyde. After electrophoresis RNA was transferred to positively charged nylon membrane
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(Amersham Hybond-N+, GE healthcare), fixed by UV crosslinking, stained with methylene blue
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and subjected to hybridization with radioactive probes. The results were visualized using
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PhosphorImager/StormScanner system (Molecular Dynamics) and analyzed using ImageQuant 5.1
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software (Molecular Dynamics). The P-32 oligoprobes for mt-tRNA detection were labeled using
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PNK (NEB), according to manufacturer's instructions. The mt-mRNA, mt-rRNA probes and 7SL
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standardization probe were prepared using Deca Labeling Kit (Fermentas) and appropriate PCR
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products as templates. All primer and oligoprobe sequences are available upon request.
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RT-PCR analysis
3 μg of total RNA, subsequently to the DNaseI treatment (Roche), was subjected to the
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reverse transcription procedure using random primers and SuperscriptIII (Invitrogen). The reactions
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without reverse transcriptase and cDNA from RNA untreated with DNaseI were used as controls.
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The primers for PCR analysis were designed either to flank the putative mt-tRNase Z cleavage sites
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or mtRNase P cleavage site, or the potential cleavage sites for which no cleavage mechanism has
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been proposed. To check the DNA contamination in all cDNA samples, the control PCR reaction
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was performed to amplify the D-loop containing fragment (from tRNAPro to 12S rRNA), that
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normally should not be transcribed as a single RNA molecule. As a control for primer quality, every
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primer pair was tested on the RNA sample not subjected to DNaseI treatment. Primer sequences are
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available upon request.
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Results
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ELAC2 localizes in mitochondria and nucleus.
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Our first aim was to check the subcellular localization of human ELAC1 and ELAC2
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proteins (tRNaseZ-S and tRNaseZ-L respectively). Different algorithms gave different predictions:
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ELAC1 was assesed to be a cytoplasmic protein (PSORTII 60.1%), nonmitochondrial (TargetP
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mitochondrial score 0.097) or mitochondrial (Mitopred, 92.3%) and ELAC2 was predicted as an ER
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(PSORTII 44.4%) or mitochondrial (Mitopred 84.6%, TargetP mitochondrial score 0.817) protein.
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To check the localization of both proteins experimentally, we cloned both ELAC1 and ELAC2
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coding sequences and transiently expressed them in HeLa cells as C-terminal fusion proteins with
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the flag peptide. ELAC2-flag localized to mitochondria, in addition it was also detected in the
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nucleus. The signal observed from ELAC1-flag did not colocalize with mitochondrial or nuclear
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staining, suggesting the cytosolic localization of tRNase Z-S in human cells (Fig.1a). Using the
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specific antibody for ELAC2 we confirmed the mitochondrial and nuclear localization of
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endogeneous ELAC2 in HeLa, 293 and 143B cell lines (Fig.1B).
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We observed that the distribution of ELAC2 between the nucleus and mitochondria differs
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in the cells across the population from a single experiment. Particularly, the amount of ELAC2
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observed in the nucleus varied significantly, from undetectable to a level comparable with the
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mitochondrial pool (data not shown).
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The ELAC2 coding sequence contains an AUG codon at the 16th position which might be
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recognized as a second start of translation. To examine whether such an alternative translation start
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could play a role in localization of the protein, we expressed the ELAC2-flag fusion mutated at the
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first methionine site (ELAC2M1A-flag) by changing it to alanine. The mutant protein localized
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exclusively to the nucleus suggesting that 15 amino acids between the first and the second ATG is
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necessary for mitochondrial import but is not required for the nuclear localization (Fig. 2).
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ELAC2 knockdown inhibits 3' mt-tRNA processing
Two different siRNAs and three stealth-RNAs were tested for their ability to knock down
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the level of ELAC2 expression. All siRNAs and stealth-RNAs were able to knock down protein
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levels of ELAC2 to 20% or less when compared to the mock-treated cells (Fig.3A, B). Our further
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analysis indicated that E2-sth1 and E2-sth3 were the most potent inhibitors (data not shown).
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Gene silencing of the ELAC2 resulted in the accumulation of high molecular weight RNA
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fragments that may represent precursor RNAs (Fig. 3C). Sizes of the bands visible on northern blots
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correspond to the potential tRNAse-Z substrates. Among nine mt-tRNAs tested, we observed the
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accumulation of five precursors: tRNAVal-16S rRNA, tRNAArg-ND4/4L, tRNALys-ATP6/8 (Fig.
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3C), tRNAGly-ND3 (Fig. 4) and tRNALeu(UUR)-ND1 (data not shown). For two other probes we were
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not able to detect any band except the mature tRNAs: tRNAPro and tRNAIle (data not shown). In
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case of tRNAPhe and tRNAGlu the high molecular weight bands were present both in control and
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RNAi cells (Fig. 3C). The observed accumulated bands were weak compared to the mature tRNA
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signal. Also, in all cases we did not observe any depletion of mature tRNA levels. This may be
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explained by a very short half-life of precursor RNAs compared to mature mitochondrial tRNAs
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that were shown to be very stable, with their half-life estimated to be more than 24 h (Knight 1969;
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Attardi and Attardi 1971).
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To further confirm the results obtained by northern blots and to enhance the sensitivity of
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detecting the RNA precursors, we performed RT-PCR analysis using primers detecting tRNA
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molecules uncleaved at their 3’ processing sites . We observed the accumulation of the appropriate
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PCR product for almost all tested 3' unprocessed tRNA precursors in the samples obtained from
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ELAC2-RNAi treated cells (Fig. 4). The only exception was tRNAPhe. In contrast, we did not
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observe any accumulation of a PCR product corresponding to a potential RNAse P substrate (CO2-
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tRNALys). As a control of equal RNA loading, the level of PCR product from the internal fragment
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of CYB RNA was compared in all samples. None of the samples gave a product with primers
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encompassing the D-Loop fragment, indicating there was no DNA contamination. Taken together,
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our results indicate that ELAC2 knock-down in HeLa cells leads to the accumulation of the
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mitochondrial 3' unprocessed tRNA precursors.
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ELAC2 does not recognize mirror mt-tRNAs
Although in most cases mitochondrial mRNA and rRNA genes are preceded by tRNA
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sequences, there are three mRNAs for which the mechanism of the 5' end release is still unknown:
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CO1, CO3 and CYB. There is no common sequence motif within these sites that could be
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recognized and direct the cleavage, however upstream of CO1 and CYB on the antisense strand
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there is a sequence complementary to a tRNA molecule, constituting so called mirror tRNA. We
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checked if ELAC2 could cleave such sequence which does not form a bona fide tRNA structure.
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The rationale was that ELAC2 protein was shown to bind short RNAs and use them to recognize
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specific RNA targets. (Elbarbary et al., 2009). We hypothesized that ELAC2 could bind to the
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tRNA excised from the antisense strand and use it as a guide RNA to recognize and cut the
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complementary sequence (mirror tRNA) in the sense transcript. However, using RT-PCR we did
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not observe any accumulation of tRNAGlu(mirror)-CYB nor tRNATyr(mirror)-CO1 in ELAC2-silenced
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cells. Also, if ELAC2 recognized the 3' end of mirror tRNA, we would observe the accumulation of
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the CO2-tRNALys amplicon (Fig. 4), which covers not only 5' end of tRNALys on one strand but also
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3' end of tRNALys(mirror) on the other strand. As this was not the case, we suggest that mt-tRNase Z
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does not recognize mirror tRNAs either directly or using guide RNAs.
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Knocking down MRPP1 disables both 5' and 3' tRNA processing
The MRPP1(RG9MTD1) gene encodes a tRNA methyltransferase which is one of the three
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proteins constituting human mitochondrial RNaseP. Knockdown of MRPP1 in human cells results
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in the accumulation of 5' unprocessed mt-tRNA precursors (Holzmann et al. 2008). In agreement
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with these data, our northern blot analysis after MRPP1 silencing in HeLa cells showed the
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presence of high molecular weight bands containing tRNA molecules (Fig. 5A). Interestingly, none
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of the observed fragments corresponded to the theoretical - 5' unprocessed tRNA - RNase P
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substrate. The size of the observed bands, estimated from the migration in the gel, suggested that
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they contain not only unprocessed 5' tRNA sites but also uncleaved 3' tRNA sites (Fig. 5A, B).
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Results from the northern blot analysis were further confirmed using RT-PCR. Importantly,
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in the cells lacking ELAC2-encoded tRNase Z, only 3' unprocessed tRNA precursors were
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accumulated, while 5' tRNA processing was not altered. By contrast, RNase P silencing always
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caused the accumulation of both 5' and 3' unprocessed tRNA precursors (Fig. 6).
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To address the question whether unprocessed sites in cells with depleted MRPP1 are on the
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same RNA precursor molecule, we checked the levels of two tRNA-mRNA-tRNA transcripts.
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These should only accumulate if both 3' and 5' tRNA cleavages were blocked within a single RNA
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precursor molecule. We found that indeed, the corresponding PCR products were accumulated in
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both MRPP1 knockdown and ELAC2+MRPP1 double RNAi cells when compared to ELAC2
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RNAi or mock transfected cells (Fig. 6, third column). These results indicate that inhibition of
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MRPP1 blocked both mtRNase P and mt-tRNase Z processing.
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Taken together, these observations indicate that in HeLa cells mt-tRNase Z acts after RNase
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P and can only process RNA molecules already cleaved by mtRNase P. Such a sequential order of
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tRNA processing was already shown to take place in other biological systems, like yeast, human
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and mouse nucleus. There are few exceptions, where 3' processing precedes 5' tRNA processing,
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like some tRNAs in mouse (Rooney and Harding 1986). Our results, however, show that for all
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tested tRNAs (tRNALys, tRNAArg, tRNAGlu, tRNAGly, tRNALeu, tRNAVal), RNAse P cleavage
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precedes tRNase Z processing.
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Not all tested 5' uncleaved tRNA precursors were affected to the same extent by MRPP1
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knockdown. For example the ND1-tRNAIle precursor accumulated much more strongly than ND3-
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tRNAArg. This may be due to the fact that different RNase P sites are processed with varied
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efficiency. We analyzed the structure of all mitochondrial tRNAs and we found that in tRNAArg
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+6/+59 nucleotides are nonpairing U-U, while in all other tRNA sequences this pair forms hydrogen
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bonds (data not shown). It is possible that the main stem-loop structure of tRNAArg is disrupted and
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therefore mtRNase P may have a lower affinity for tRNAArg and thus process it less efficiently.
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RNA14 processing does not depend on ELAC2 nor MRPP1
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Some mitochondrial mRNAs genes are not flanked by tRNA sequences at their 5' ends, and
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the mature RNAs are liberated from their precursor molecules by an unknown mechanism. One of
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these mRNAs is CO3 which lies directly downstream the ATP6/8 sequence. Together they
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constitute the RNA14 precursor that is very abundant in comparison to other precursors and easily
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detectable using either a CO3 or an ATP6/8 specific probe. Since there is no intergenic region
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between these two ORFs, the cleavage must occur with great accuracy in order to create functional
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stop and start codons. It was proposed that RNA14 may form a stem-loop near to this site that
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resembles a tRNA structure and is recognized by the tRNA excision system (Ojala et al. 1981). We
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checked whether RNA14 cleavage is affected either by tRNase Z or mtRNaseP. The hybridization
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with a CO3 specific probe did not show any changes of RNA14 level comparing to CO3 mature
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mRNA (Fig. 7A). Also RT-PCR analysis shown very little or no changes in ATP6/8-CO3 level
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either in ELAC2- or MRPP1- silenced cells (Fig. 7B). Taken together, it seems unlikely that the
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RNA14 cleavage is directed by either ELAC2 or mtRNase P. Interestingly, using tRNA Lys specific
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oligoprobe we found that upon mt-tRNase Z silencing we can detect additional bands corresponding
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to tRNALys-ATP6/8 and tRNALys-RNA14 (Fig. 3C). The presence of the tRNALys molecule still
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attached to both ATP6/8 and RNA14 in the cells depleted for ELAC2 indicates that the cleavage
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between ATP6/8 and CO3 mRNAs occurs independently of the tRNALys processing (Fig. 7C).
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Discussion
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In this paper we demonstrate that human mitochondrial tRNAse Z is encoded by the ELAC2
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gene, localizes both to the nucleus and mitochondria and is required for the tRNA 3' processing in
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HeLa cell mitochondria.
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The localization of ELAC2 protein has been a point of debate for a long time. Most
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researchers focus on its nuclear localization while they study cancer associated features of ELAC2.
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(Noda et al. 2006). In this paper for the first time we show that ELAC2 is present both in
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mitochondria and the nucleus in different cell types. We propose that the mechanism for differential
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targeting of the same gene product may be based on the alternative translation initiation site. We
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show that first N-terminal 15 amino acids are required for mitochondrial targeting but their absence
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has no effect on the nuclear localization. Therefore, it is possible that M16 may be the second,
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alternative translation initiation site. As a result two proteins would be produced, the one
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containing MTS would localize to mitochondria (or mitochondria and nucleus) and the second
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without MTS would only target the nucleus. Such a mechanism has been already proposed for other
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double-localized, mitochondrial/nuclear proteins like human DNA topoisomerase IIIα and human
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DNA ligase III (Lakshmipathy and Campbell 1999; Wang et al. 2002). Consistently, we found -
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using PredictNLS (http://cubic.bioc.columbia.edu/services/predictNLS) - that the putative nuclear
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localization signal of ELAC2 is located at 28-35 amino acids. This is also in agreement with the
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experimental data obtained by Elbarbary et al., who showed that ELAC2 without the first 30 N-
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terminal amino acids localizes to the cytosol (Elbarbary et al. 2009).
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We further demonstrate that ELAC2 encoded mt-tRNAseZ is required for the 3' tRNA
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processing in human mitochondria. Upon ELAC2 silencing we observe an accumulation of the
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following 3' tRNA cleavage sites: tRNAVal-16S rRNA, tRNALys-ATP6/8, tRNAArg-ND4L,
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tRNAGly-ND3, tRNALeu(UUR)-ND1 and tRNAGlu-ND6. From all tRNAs tested only tRNAPhe
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precursor did not accumulate in ELAC2 RNAi cells, suggesting that other processing pathways may
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exist in human mitochondria as well. Also, we cannot exclude that ELAC2 functions in other
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compartments besides mitochondria. It is highly probable that ELAC2 also processes 3' tRNA ends
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in the nucleus.
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some nuclear tRNA precursors outside the nucleus. They have shown that 3' unprocessed
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tRNASer(TGA) precursor is localized to the cytoplasm and accumulates upon ELAC2 knock down.
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However, the procedure used for organelle fractionation did not include mitochondria separation
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(Lee et al. 2009). Therefore, as the cytoplasmic fraction contained mitochondria as well, from our
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point of view, it cannot be excluded that this precursor is transported into mitochondria and there
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processed by the mitochondrial tRNase Z. Such RNA targeting to mitochondria has been shown for
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several tRNA species (Kolesnikova et al. 2004; Rubio et al. 2008) and a mechanism for this process
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has recently been proposed (Wang et al. 2002).
Interestingly, A. Dutta and colleagues suggested, that ELAC2 may process
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There were some suggestions that sequences complementary to mitochondrial tRNAs may
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also form stable tRNA structures (Seligmann 2010) and therefore may be recognized by the tRNA
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excision system. This would help to explain the mechanisms of liberating some 5' mRNA ends, that
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are not flanked by tRNA sequences, but they lie in the close proximity to tRNA sequences encoded
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on the opposite DNA strand. Interestingly, it was shown that the truncated form of ELAC2,
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localized to the cytoplasm, can cleave any target RNA at any desired site under the direction of an
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artificial small guide RNA (sgRNA) that mimics a 59-half portion of tRNA (Elbarbary et al. 2009).
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If such a mechanism existed in mitochondria, ELAC2 could use sense tRNA from one strand and
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direct the cleavage on the opposite strand. However, in our analyses we did not observe any
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precursors accumulated except for standard tRNase Z substrates. Therefore we find it unlikely that
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ELAC2 can recognize other cleavage sites except for the standard 3' ends of tRNAs.
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Since almost all mitochondrial precursors containing mRNAs are transcribed from a single
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promoter, the abundance of some precursors is most probably the result of a different processing
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rate, meaning that not all tRNA cleavage sites are recognized equally well by the tRNA excision
337
system. Our observations are in agreement with this hypothesis, showing that some RNase P
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cleavage sites are processed less efficiently than others which results in a higher precursor level in
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untreated cells as well as a weaker response to mtRNase P silencing.
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We show that in HeLa cell mitochondria the order of cleavage in tRNA processing is the
341
same as in the yeast nucleus, i.e. mt-tRNase Z can only process tRNA molecules already cleaved
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by mtRNase P. This is a consequence of the well known feature of other tRNAse Z enzymes, that
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they have a very low affinity for tRNA molecules that have a long protruding 5' end (Kufel and
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Tollervey 2003). Interestingly, Bindoff et al. suggested that the order of 3' and 5' tRNA processing
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in human mitochondria may be different depending on the tissue (Bindoff et al. 1993). In this work
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we presented studies of only two enzymes: ELAC2/tRNAseZ and novel mtRNase P in HeLa cells
347
and we found that they work just like tRNA excision systems in other organisms. However, we
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cannot exclude other players or even other pathways like exonucleolytic in mitochondrial tRNA
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processing. Therefore, there is always a possibility that the engagement of ELAC2 and mtRNase P
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varies in different tissues and that under certain conditions tRNA processing may not require this
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particular order of actions. Another suggestion that there might be an alternative processing
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mechanism for mitochondrial RNAs may come from our finding that RNA14 processing is not
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affected by the lack of either ELAC2 or MRPP1. However, this has to be considered with caution as
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the RNA14 cleavage is rather inefficient under normal conditions and thus a defect in this cleavage
355
may not be easily detected.
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In this paper we demonstrate that ELAC2 functions in human mitochondrial RNA
357
processing. Our results clearly indicate that ELAC2-encoded mt-tRNAse Z together with the RNA-
358
free mtRNase P constitute to a tRNA excision machinery. Almost 30 years ago, the tRNA excision
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process was postulated to be one of the basic mechanisms underlying human mitochondrial genome
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expression. We hope the data demonstrated in our work will support other researches in this field
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contributing to our better understanding of the human mitochondrial RNA processing and gene
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expression.
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Figure Legends
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Fig. 1.
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Localization of ELAC1 and ELAC2 products in human cells. A - Immunolocalization of flag-tagged
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proteins overexpressed in HeLa cells. B - Immunolocalization of endogenous ELAC2 in different
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cell lines using specific ELAC2 antibody.
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Fig 2.
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Localization of the ELACM1A mutant. A - Immunolocalization of flag-tagged ELAC2WT and
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ELAC2M1A overexpressed in HeLa cells. B - a schematic representation of ELAC2 wild type and
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mutant with M1 and M16 marked in red.
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Fig. 3.
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ELAC2-directed RNAi in HeLa cells affects mitochondrial tRNA processing. A - western blot
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analysis using ELAC2 specific antibody for measuring the level of ELAC2 protein in untreated
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cells (NT), cells treated with transfection reagent only (Lipo) and the cells transfected with different
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siRNAs or the mixture of three siRNAs (mix). B - western blot analysis for assessment the silencing
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efficiency of siRNAs. Indicated amounts of the control lysate was loaded for comparison. C - a
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scheme illustrating mitochondrial genome organization. D - northern blot analysis using
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radiolabelled probes specific to different mitochondrial tRNAs. The last panel shows the
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hybridization to 7sl RNA, used for standardization. The high molecular bands that are present or
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accumulated in RNAi treated cells, were marked with an asterisk.
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Fig. 4.
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RT-PCR analysis of mitochondrial tRNA processing sites after ELAC2 knock-down. The product
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accumulated in RNAi treated cells when comparing to the mock treated sample reflects the
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accumulation of the unprocessed site. On the middle panels - theoretical tRNase-Z substrates.
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Bottom panels - theoretical RNase-P substrate (CO2-tRNALys) and the sites of unknown cleavage
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mechanism. For standardization, an internal fragment of mitochondrial CYB was amplified (CYB,
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top panel). To test the DNA contamination, the primers flanking D-loop region were used (D-loop,
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top panel). As a control for primers quality, every primer pair was tested on the cDNA without prior
Brzezniak, p. 15
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DNAseI treatment of RNA sample. Here the result shown only for negative control primers (D-
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loop).
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Fig. 5 Silencing MRPP1 results in the accumulation of unprocessed precursors, different than after
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ELAC2 silencing. A - northern blot hybridizations using tRNA specific oligoprobes. For the bands
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marked with asterisks, the size has been estimated from gel migration. B - the table aligning sizes of
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the observed molecules marked with asterisks and theoretical unprocessed mt-RNA sequences.
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Fig. 6
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RNaseP knock-down disables both 3' and 5' tRNA processing. The RT-PCR analysis of different
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mt-RNA processing sites. W - water control; L - lipofectamine treated cells; E2 - ELAC2 RNAi
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cells; P1 - MRPP1 RNAi cells; E2/P1 - ELAC2+MRPP1 double RNAi cells. On the bottom panel -
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standardization control PCR (CYB, ND3 internal fragments) and DNA contamination control (D-
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loop).
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Fig. 7
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The RNA14 cleavage is not affected in ELAC2 or MRPP1 RNAi cells. A - northern blot
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hybridization using CO3 specific probe. B - RT-PCR analysis of the ATP6/8-CO3 processing site.
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Samples, as described in Fig. 6. C - a scheme illustrating RNA14 processing. Details in the text.