The decapping enzyme Dcp1 participates in translation termination through its interaction with the release factor eRF3 in budding yeast

One of the rate-limiting steps in messenger RNA decay pathway is the 5′-cap cleavage of mRNAs, decapping reaction, which is conducted by the protein complex of Dcp1 and Dcp2. We find here that Dcp1p can interact with the release factor eRF3p (Sup35p) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Knockout of DCP1 caused not only the accumulation of nonsense mRNAs possibly due to the impaired decapping activity but also the enhancement of the read-through of nonsense codon. To examine the relationship between the two DCP1-knockout phenotypes, we produced DCP1 point mutants that lack the ability to support the translation termination. Interestingly, decapping activity of Dcp1p was still intact, but its interaction with eRF3p was abolished in the DCP1 mutants, indicating that the two functions originated from different entities of Dcp1p. These results suggest that the decapping enzyme Dcp1p may have an additional role in the translation termination through its interaction with eRF3p.