A ubiquitin ligase mediates target-directed microRNA decay independently of tailing and trimming [TDMD]

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act in concert with Argonaute (AGO) proteins to broadly repress mRNA targets. After AGO loading, miRNAs generally exhibit slow turnover. An important exception occurs when miRNAs encounter targets with extensive complementarity, which can trigger a process termed target-directed microRNA degradation (TDMD). Prevailing models of TDMD invoke miRNA tailing and trimming as an essential step in the decay mechanism. Here, a genome-wide screen revealed a novel cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase, which we named the DECAY complex, that mediates TDMD. The DECAY complex interacts with AGO proteins, mediates TDMD induced by multiple transcripts, and does not require tailing and trimming to elicit miRNA turnover. Based upon these findings, we propose a model in which the DECAY complex mediates TDMD by promoting proteasomal decay of miRNA-containing complexes. Total RNA was isolated from biological triplicates of each cell line using the miRNeasy Mini RNA isolation kit (QIAGEN). Library preparation and next generation sequencing were performed by DNA Link using NEB Next Small RNA Library Prep for Illumina (New England BioLabs).