The CTEXT complex in Saccharomyces cerevisiae plays a crucial role in degrading distinct sets of aberrant mRNAs by the nuclear exosome

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, DRN (Decay of RNA in the Nucleus) requiring Cbc1/2p, Tif4631p, and Upf3p promotes the exosomal degradation of aberrantly long 3'-extended-, export-defective transcripts and a small group of normal (special) mRNAs. In this study, using a systematic proteomic analysis we show that each of the known components interacts with one another and they exist as a separate complex, which was dubbed CTEXT (CBC-Tif4631p-dependent EXosome Targeting). We also identified a DEAD-box RNA helicase Dbp2p as an additional novel component of CTEXT during this analysis which was further bolstered by the finding that genomic deletions of Dbp2p led to the stabilization of all the signature nuclear messages. Interestingly, the RRM domain of Tif4631p located at the extreme N-termini of this polypeptide was found to play a vital role in in mediating the interaction of the CTEXT with the core exosome complex. These inferences were substantiated by the finding that deletion of this domain led to the functional impairment of the CTEXT complex. Thus, the CTEXT constitutes an independent complex that assists the nuclear exosome in degrading the select classes of nuclear transcripts in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.