AUUUA is not sufficient to promote poly(A) shortening and degradation of an mRNA: the functional sequence within AU-rich elements may be UUAUUUA(U/A)(U/A).

AU-rich elements (AREs) in the 3' untranslated regions of several cytokine and oncogene mRNAs have been shown to function as signals for rapid mRNA degradation, and it is assumed that the many other cytokine and oncogene mRNAs that contain AU-rich sequences in the 3' untranslated region are similarly targeted for rapid turnover. We have used a chimeric gene composed mostly of growth hormone sequences with expression driven by the c-fos promoter to investigate the minimal sequence required to act as a functional destabilizing element and to monitor the effect of these sequences on early steps in the degradation pathway. We find that neither AUUUA, UAUUUA, nor AUUUAU can function as a destabilizing element. However, the sequence UAUUUAU, when present in three copies, is sufficient to destabilize a chimeric mRNA. We propose that this sequence functions by virtue of being a sufficient portion of the larger sequence, UUAUUUA(U/A)(U/A), that we propose forms the optimal binding site for a destabilizing factor. The destabilizing effect depends on the number of copies of this proposed binding site and their degree of mismatch in the first two and last two positions, with mismatches in the AUUUA sequence not being tolerated. We found a strict correlation between the effect of an ARE on degradation rate and the effect on the rate of poly(A) shortening, consistent with deadenylation being the first and rate-limiting step in degradation, and the step stimulated by destabilizing AREs. Deadenylation was observed to occur in at least two phases, with an oligo(A) intermediate transiently accumulating, consistent with the suggestion that the degradation processes may be similar in yeast and mammalian cells. AREs that are especially U rich and contain no UUAUUUA(U/A)(U/A) motifs failed to influence the degradation rate or the deadenylation rate, either when downstream of suboptimal destabilizing AREs or when alone.