No-go decay: a quality control mechanism for RNA in translation

Abstract

Eukaryotic cells have evolved multiple quality control mechanisms that recognize and eliminate defective mRNA during the process of translation. One mechanism, referred to as No-go decay (NGD), targets mRNAs with elongation stalls for degradation initiated by endonucleolytic cleavage in the vicinity of the stalled ribosome. NGD is promoted by the evolutionarily conserved Dom34 and Hbs1 proteins, which are related to the translation termination factors eRF1 and eRF3, respectively. NGD is likely to occur by Dom34/Hbs1 interacting with the A site in the ribosome leading to release of the peptide or peptidyl-tRNA. The process of NGD and/or the function of Dom34/Hbs1 appear to be important in several different biological contexts.