The nuclear cap-binding protein complex is not essential for nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) in plants

In this study we investigated whether in plants, like in mammals, components of the nuclear cap-binding protein complex (CBC) are involved in nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD). We selected several genes producing at least two alternatively spliced mRNA variants: one with a premature termination codon (PTC+) and another without it (PTC-). For each gene the PTC+/PTC- ratio was calculated using RT-PCR and direct sequencing in four Arabidopsis thaliana lines: wild type, the NMD mutant atupf3-1 and two CBC mutants: cbp20 and abh1. Whereas in the NMD mutant the ratios of PTC+/PTC- splice variants were higher than in wild-type plants, the two CBC mutants investigated showed no change in the PTC+/PTC- ratios. Our results suggest that neither CBP20 nor CBP80 is involved in NMD in A. thaliana.