posted on 2023-06-09, 18:24authored byVillu Kasari, Agnieszka A Pochopien, Tõnu Margus, Victoriia Murina, Kathryn Turnbull, Yang Zhou, Tracy Nissan, Michael Graf, Jirí Novácek, Gemma C Atkinson, Marcus J O Johansson, Daniel N Wilson, Vasili Hauryliuk
Translation is controlled by numerous accessory proteins and translation factors. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, translation elongation requires an essential elongation factor, the ABCF ATPase eEF3. A closely related protein, New1, is encoded by a non-essential gene with cold sensitivity and ribosome assembly defect knock-out phenotypes. Since the exact molecular function of New1 is unknown, it is unclear if the ribosome assembly defect is direct, i.e. New1 is a bona fide assembly factor, or indirect, for instance due to a defect in protein synthesis. To investigate this, we employed yeast genetics, cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and ribosome profiling (Ribo-Seq) to interrogate the molecular function of New1. Overexpression of New1 rescues the inviability of a yeast strain lacking the otherwise strictly essential translation factor eEF3. The structure of the ATPase-deficient (EQ2) New1 mutant locked on the 80S ribosome reveals that New1 binds analogously to the ribosome as eEF3. Finally, Ribo-Seq analysis revealed that loss of New1 leads to ribosome queuing upstream of 3'-terminal lysine and arginine codons, including those genes encoding proteins of the cytoplasmic translational machinery. Our results suggest that New1 is a translation factor that fine-tunes the efficiency of translation termination or ribosome recycling.