The interface between transcription and mRNP export: from THO to THSC/TREX-2

Abstract

Eukaryotic gene expression is a multilayer process covering transcription to post-translational protein modifications. As the nascent pre-mRNA emerges from the RNA polymerase II (RNAPII), it is packed in a messenger ribonucleoparticle (mRNP) whose optimal configuration is critical for the normal pre-mRNA processing and mRNA export, mRNA integrity as well as for transcription elongation efficiency. The interplay between transcription and mRNP formation feeds forward and backward and involves a number of conserved factors, from THO to THSC/TREX-2, which in addition have a unique impact on transcription-dependent genome instability. Here we review our actual knowledge of the role that these factors play at the interface between transcription and mRNA export in the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae.