Abstact

Intron-containing mRNAs are cotranscriptionally spliced and assembled into messenger ribonucleoprotein (mRNP) particles, a process monitored by surveillance pathways. Here, we combined biochemical and structural approaches to elucidate the mechanisms by which mRNPs are sorted between two opposing fates: nuclear degradation and cytoplasmic export. While the human GANP-PCID2 complex is known to connect mRNPs to nuclear export, our data indicate that the LENG8-PCID2 complex operates as an mRNP decay connector, coupling nuclear mRNPs to the RNA-degrading exosome via the PAXT adaptor complex. Both recognize the mRNP component UAP56, but LENG8-PCID2 uniquely associates with early splicing factors through a direct interaction with U1A and RRP1B. Similarly, the Thp3-Csn12 ortholog in budding yeast couples the early splicing factors Mud2-Bbp with the nuclear exosome. The spliceosome-exosome mRNP decay pathway we uncovered reveals molecular principles that remain strikingly conserved across evolution, despite the fundamental differences in splicing and decay between humans and budding yeast.