How faulty mRNA is detected and destroyed

Two similar proteins can stand in for each other in the quality control mechanism of defective mRNA. This has redefined the distribution of protein tasks / publication in 'The EMBO Journal'. Scientists led by Professor Dr Niels Gehring at the Institute for Genetics at the University of Cologne have investigated two similar proteins, UPF3A and UPF3B, which are involved in the quality control mechanism 'nonsense-mediated mRNA decay' (NMD). Their results show that both proteins are able to ensure the execution of NMD in the absence of the other and thus have at least partially the same functions. The quality control mechanism NMD prevents defective mRNA from being further processed into proteins that may possibly have undesired or even toxic effects in our cells. Messenger RNA, or mRNA for short, has been common knowledge since the corona pandemic. The messenger molecule carries information from which proteins can be produced in the cell.