DECAPPING PROTEIN 5 regulates the circadian clock in Arabidopsis

DCP5 regulates circadian RNA stability in Arabidopsis thaliana, and the dcp5 mutant shows an extended circadian period at both physiological and molecular levels.

• Why it matters: Circadian transcriptome reprogramming depends on mRNA synthesis and degradation, but how RNA decay factors shape clock timing is not well defined.
• What they did: A meta-analysis of transcriptome-wide mRNA decay datasets found HA-CCGs have consistently shorter half-lives, and iCLIP showed DCP5 preferentially binds HA-CCG 3' UTRs at AU-rich motifs.
• The result: DCP5 binding at AU-rich 3' UTR motifs modulates HA-CCG stability, and loss of DCP5 extends circadian period, supporting mRNA decay as a post-transcriptional tuning layer.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.