The odyssey of a regulated transcript

The transcript of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene, RPL30, is subject to r egulated splicing and regulated translation, due to a structure that intera cts with its own product, ribosomal protein L30. We have followed the fate of the regulated RPL30 transcripts in vivo. Initially, these transcripts ab ortively enter the splicing pathway, forming an unusually stable associatio n with U1 snRNP. A large proportion of the unspliced molecules, however, ar e found in the cytoplasm. Most of these are still bound by L30, as only a s mall fraction are engaged in translation. Eventually, the unspliced RPL30 t ranscripts escape the grasp of L30, associate with ribosomes, and fall prey to nonsense mediated decay.