How specific transcript features influence different RNA decay pathways in breaking down faulty RNA

Transcriptome-wide mapping reveals that NMD substrates with premature termination codons undergo constitutive SMG6-dependent endocleavage.

• Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) eliminates mRNAs with faulty translation termination.
• SMG6 and SMG7 are two factors involved in the degradation of NMD substrates.
• Endogenous transcripts can have features that trigger NMD at various positions.
• SMG6-dependent endocleavage occurs for NMD substrates with premature termination codons.
• NMD substrates containing upstream open reading frames and long 3' UTRs are degraded through both SMG6 and SMG7 pathways.
• The architecture of mRNA influences the degradation process by SMG6 and SMG7.

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