The work presented in this manuscript defines a new role of mRNA uridylation, using Arabidopsis as a model organism. RNA uridylation is catalyzed by RNA nucleotidyltransferases belonging to the non canonical poly(A) polymerase (ncPAP) family. Among the 14 genes encoding ncPAPs in Arabidopsis, we identified a terminal uridylyl transferase, TUT1, responsible for mRNA uridylation. Our results show that mRNAs are uridylated by TUT1 after a deadenylation step. Uridylation doesn’t modify mRNA degradation rates but is essential for deadenylated mRNA 3’ end protection against 3’- 5’ exoribonucleolytic attacks and to prevent 3’ truncated aberrant mRNA formation. Interestingly, this protection by uridylation is detected in polysomes. One biological function of mRNA uridylation is to establish a 5’-3’ mRNA degradation polarity that could be essential in the case of cotranslational mRNA decay.
