Novel RING finger proteins, Air1p and Air2p, interact with Hmt1p and inhibit the arginine methylation of Npl3p

Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs) are involved in the mRNA processing and export and are post-translationally modified by methylation at arginine residues in their arginine-glycine-rich (RGG) domains. We screened the factors that can interact with the RGG domain of Np13p only in the presence of Hmt1p with the two-hybrid system in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, An isolated clone, YIL079, encodes a novel RING finger protein that was not directly bound to Np13p but associated with the N terminus of Hmt1p. Thus, we designated the gene product Air1p (arginine methyltransferase-interacting RING finger protein). Air1p inhibited the Hmt1p-mediated methylation of Np13p in vitro. Overexpression of Air1p repressed the Hmt1p-dependent growth of cells. Since homology searches indicate that the YDL175 gene product has significant identity (45%) with Air1p, we designated the gene AIR2. Air2p also has a RING finger domain and was bound to Hmt1p. Although single disruption of either gene gave no effect on the cell growth, cells lacking Air1p and Air2p grew at an extremely slow rate with accumulated poly(A)(+) RNA in the nucleus. Thus, Air1p and Air2p may affect mRNA transport by regulating the arginine methylation state of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins.