Heterogenous ribonucleoprotein C suppresses cleavage and polyadenylation at poly(A) sites located in poly(U)-rich regions

Human transcripts can typically be processed at multiple polyadenylation sites to yield mRNA isoforms with distinct 3 ends. A multitude of factors contributes to the choice of individual polyadenylation sites in different cell types and tissues. In this study we have found that the heterogenous ribonucleoprotein C (hnRNP C), an RNA binding protein that was previously linked to splicing and polyadenylation at Alu repeat elements, is a general regulator of pre-mRNA cleavage and polyadenylation. By sequencing mRNA 3 ends from cells expressing normal and reduced levels of hnRNP C we found that transcripts that contain poly(U) tracts around their poly(A) sites respond in a manner indicative of hnRNP C repressing cleavage and polyadenylation. The 3 UTR isoforms whose abundance is modulated by hnRNP C contain U-rich elements and can thereby interact with A/U-rich element binding proteins that have been shown to alter transcript stability, sub-cellular localization and even the localization of the translated proteins.