hUPF1 encodes a protein that is part of a post-splicing multiprotein complex involved in both mRNA nuclear export and mRNA surveillance. mRNA surveillance detects exported mRNAs with truncated open reading frames and initiates nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD). When translation ends upstream from the last exon-exon junction, this triggers NMD to degrade mRNAs containing premature stop codons. This protein is located only in the cytoplasm. When translation ends, it interacts with the protein that is a functional homolog of yeast Upf2p to trigger mRNA decapping. Use of multiple polyadenylation sites has been noted for this gene. [provided by RefSeq]
