Genetic interaction between a chaperone of small nucleolar ribonucleoprotein particles and cytosolic serine hydroxymethyltransferase

Srp40p is a nonessential yeast nucleolar protein proposed to function as a chaperone for over 100 small nucleolar ribonucleoprotein particles that are required for rRNA maturation. To verify and expand on its function, genetic screens were performed for the identification of genes that were lethal when mutated in a SRP40 null background (srp40Δ). Unexpectedly, mutation of both cytosolic serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHM2) and one-carbon tetrahydrofolate synthase (ADE3) was required to achieve synthetic lethality with srp40Δ. Shm2p and Ade3p are cytoplasmic enzymes producing 5,10-methylene tetrahydrofolate in convergent pathways as the primary source for cellular one-carbon groups. Nonetheless, point mutants of Shm2p that were catalytically inactive (Le. failed to rescue the methionine auxotrophy of a shm2Δ ade3 strain) complemented the synthetic lethal phenotype, thus revealing a novel metabolism-independent function of Shm2p. The same Shm2p mutants exacerbated a giant cell phenotype observed in the shm2Δ ade3 strain suggesting a catalysis-independent role for Shm2p in cell size control, possibly through regulation of ribosome biogenesis via SRP40. Additionally, we show that the Sm-like protein Lsm5p, which as part of Lsm complexes participates in cytosolic and nuclear RNA processing and degradation pathways, is a multicopy suppressor of the synthetic lethality and of the specific depletion of box H/ACA small nucleolar RNAs from the srp40Δ shm2 ade3 strain. Finally, rat Nopp140 restored growth and stability of box H/ACA snoRNAs after genetic depletion of SRP40 in the synthetic lethal strain indicating that it is indeed the functional homolog of yeast Srp40p.