Translational initiation

The Shine-Salgano interaction is a base pairing interaction that occurs during translation initiation in prokaryotes between the Shine-Dalgarno sequence on messenger RNA (mRNA) and the anti-Shine-Dalgamo... 

In contrast to most mRNAs, which become untranslatable after a temperature downshock, cold shock mRNAs possess a mechanism to form the translation initiation complex at low temperature without cold shock ribosomes. A close inspection of the mRNAs of class I cold shock proteins reveal that they are equipped with an extra ribosome-binding site called the downstream box located within the coding region of their transcript [130]. It would be interesting to know whether introduction of this downstream box into a cellular mRNA would convert it into a transcript which can be transcribed immediately after a cold shock. In the case of the cspA mRNA it has been shown that in the absence of the downstream box the initiation complex cannot be formed at low temperature during the accHmation phase [131]. 

As mentioned above, mammahan mRNA molecules contain a 7-methylguanosine cap structure at their 5 terminal, and most have a poly(A) tail at the 3 terminal. The cap stmcmre is added to the 5 end of the newly transcribed mRNA precursor in the nucleus prior to transport of the mELNA molecule to the cytoplasm. The S cap of the RNA transcript is required both for efficient translation initiation and protection of the S end of mRNA from attack by S —> S exonucleases. The secondary methylations of mRNA molecules, those on the 2 -hydroxy and the N of adenylyl residues, occur after the mRNA molecule has appeared in the cytoplasm. 

Two initiation factors, eIF-3 and elF-lA, bind to the newly dissociated 40S ribosomal subunit. This delays its reassociation with the 60S subunit and allows other translation initiation factors to associate with the 40S subunit. 

The activity of 4E is regulated in a second way, and this also involves phosphorylation. A recently discovered set of proteins bind to and inactivate 4E. These proteins include 4E-BP1 (BPl, also known as PHAS-1) and the closely related proteins 4E-BP2 and 4E-BP3. BPl binds with high affinity to 4E. The [4E] [BP1] association prevents 4E from binding to 4G (to form 4F). Since this interaction is essential for the binding of 4F to the ribosomal 40S subunit and for correctly positioning this on the capped mRNA, BP-1 effectively inhibits translation initiation. 

Figure 38-10. Picornavimses disrupt the 4F complex. The 4E-4G complex (4F) directs the 40S ribosomal subunit to the typical capped mRNA (see text). 4G alone is sufficient for targeting the 40S subunit to the internal ribosomal entry site (IRES) of viral mRNAs. To gain selective advantage, certain viruses (eg, poliovirus) have a protease that cleaves the 4E binding site from the amino terminal end of 4G. This truncated 4G can direct the 40S ribosomal subunit to mRNAs that have an IRES but not to those that have a cap. The widths of the arrows indicate the rate of translation initiation from the AUG codon in each example.

Sachs AB, Sarnow P, Hentze MW Starting at the beginning, middle and end translation Initiation in eukaryotes. Cell 1997 98 831. 

In Drosophila the two tissue-specific mRNAs are generated by alternative splicing of a single primary transcript (Fig. 9). In vertebrates the two tissue specific AADC transcripts are generated from two alternative promoters (Fig. 11) (Albert et al., 1992 Ichinose et al., 1992 Thai et al., 1993). In neural tissue transcription initiates from exon Nl, whereas in non-neural tissue transcription initiates from exon LI. This produces two distinct primary transcripts that are then spliced from the first exon (LI or Nl) to exon 2 to generate two tissue-specific mRNAs. Translation initiates within exon 2, such that the same AADC protein product is synthesized from both AADC mRNAs. 

Figure 11. Alternate promoters are used for production of the vertebrate neural and non-neural AADC mRNAs. Non-neural AADC transcription initiates at exon L1, whereas neural transcription initiates at exon N1. The non-neural mRNA splices from exon L1 to 2, since the 5 edge of exon N1 is a site of transcriptional initiation instead of a splice acceptor site. Translation initiates from the same AUG in exon 2 in both mRNAs, producing the same protein product in both tissue types. This scheme holds for both human and rat AADC, although the nomenclature of the exons differs. In rat AADC the exon N1 to 2 splice uses a splice acceptor site 5 bp downstream of the splice acceptor used for the exon L1 to 2 splice (Albert et al., 1992).

In Vitro and Tissue Culture Methods for Analysis of Translation Initiation... 

Volume 429. Translation Initiation Extract Systems and Molecular Genetics... 

Volume 430. Translation Initiation Reconstituted Systems and Biophysical Methods... 

Volume 431. Translation Initiation Cell Biology, High-Throughput Methods, and Chemical-Based Approaches Edited by Jon Lorsch... 

Alone, P. V., and Dever, T. E. (2006). Direct binding of translation initiation factor eIF2gamma-G domain to its GTPase-activating and GDP—GTP exchange factors eIF5 and eIF2B epsilon. J. Biol. Client. 281, 12636—12644. 

Anthony, T. G., Fabian, J. R., Kimball, S. R., and Jefferson, L. S. (2000). Identification of domains within the epsilon-subunit of the translation initiation factor eIF2B that are necessary for guanine nucleotide exchange activity and eIF2B holoprotein formation. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1492, 56—62. 

Asano, K., Krishnamoorthy, T., Phan, L., Pavitt, G. D., and Hinnebusch, A. G. (1999). Conserved bipartite motifs in yeast eIF5 and eIF2Bepsilon, GTPase-activating, and GDP—GTP exchange factors in translation initiation, mediate binding to their common substrate eIF2. EMBOJ. 18, 1673—1688. 

Bieniossek, C., Schutz, P., Bumann, M., Limacher, A., Uson, I., and Baumann, U. (2006). The crystal stmcture of the carboxy-terminal domain of human translation initiation factor eIF5. /. Mol. Biol. 360, 457—465. 

Boesen, T., Mohammad, S. S., Pavitt, G. D., and Andersen, G. R. (2004). Structure of the catalytic fragment of translation initiation factor 2B and identification of a critically important catalytic residue. /. Biol. Chem. 279, 10584—10592. 

Gomez, E., and Pavitt, G. D. (2000). Identification of domains and residues within the epsilon subunit of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2B (eIF2Bepsilon) required for guanine nucleotide exchange reveals a novel activation function promoted by eIF2B complex formation. Mol. Cell Biol. 20, 3965—3976. 

Kyrpides, N. C., and Woese, C. R. (1998). Archaeal translation initiation revisited The initiation factor 2 and eukaryotic initiation factor 2B alpha-beta-delta subunit families. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 3726—3730. 

In Vivo Deletion Analysis of the Architecture of a Multiprotein Complex of Translation Initiation Factors... 

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