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Yeast Rpl10 belongs to the L10e family of ribosomal proteins. In the large (60 S) subunit, Rpl10 is positioned in a cleft between the central protuberance and the GTPase-activating center. It is loaded into the 60 S subunit at a late step in maturation. We have shown previously that Rpl10 is required for the release of the Crm1-dependent nuclear export adapter Nmd3, an event that also requires the cytoplasmic GTPase Lsg1. Here we have carried out an extensive mutational analysis of Rpl10 to identify mutations that would allow us to map activities to distinct domains of the protein to begin to understand the molecular interaction between Rpl10 and Nmd3. We found that mutations in a central loop (amino acids 102–112) had a significant impact on the release of Nmd3. This loop is unstructured in the crystal and solution structures of prokaryotic Rpl10 orthologs. Thus, the loop is not necessary for stable interaction of Rpl10 with the ribosome, suggesting that it plays a dynamic role in ribosome function or regulating the association of other factors. We also found that mutant Rpl10 proteins were engineered to be unable to bind to the ribosome accumulated in the nucleus. This was unexpected and may suggest a nuclear role for Rpl10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear export of the large ribosomal subunit requires the adapter protein Nmd3p to provide a leucine-rich nuclear export signal that is recognized by the export receptor Crm1. Nmd3p binds to the pre-60 S subunit in the nucleus. After export to the cytoplasm, the release of Nmd3p depends on the ribosomal protein Rpl10p and the GTPase Lsg1p. Here, we have carried out a mutational analysis of Nmd3 to better define the domains responsible for nucleocytoplasmic shuttling and ribosome binding. We show that mutations in two regions of Nmd3p affect 60 S binding, suggesting that its binding to the subunit is multivalent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]