SSA could not be possible without the generous support of Drs. Herbert A. and Betty Lou Lubs and the Science, Society, and the Arts Research Conference Endowment. We are deeply grateful!
Ribosomes are essential, long-lived, and highly abundant molecular machines responsible for protein synthesis. However, when ribosomes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae are functionally compromised, their ribosomal RNA (rRNA) components are rapidly degraded through a quality control pathway termed nonfunctional ribosomal RNA decay (NRD). We hypothesize that one or more helicases, which disrupt RNA secondary structure, may be important for NRD. Using single gene knock-out strains we are measuring how these helicases affect the growth rate of yeast. To date, we have discovered a slow growth phenotype in two helicase gene deletion strains, ?SKI2 and ?SLH1. We are also investigating how well the NRD pathway is functioning in these mutant strains using RT-qPCR, a technique that quantitatively measures RNA expression. We hope this work will provide insight into the role of helicases in RNA degradation mechanisms and contribute to our understanding of NRD.