Conserved translatome remodeling in nematode species executing a shared developmental transition

Area of Science:

• Developmental Biology
• Genetics
• Evolutionary Biology

Background:

• Nematodes like Caenorhabditis undergo developmental diapause (L1 diapause) when food is absent after hatching.
• Understanding gene expression regulation during this transition is crucial for developmental biology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the roles of mRNA abundance and translational efficiency in L1 diapause exit across four Caenorhabditis species.
• To determine the conserved and species-specific mechanisms governing gene expression during developmental arrest.

Main Methods:

• Genome-wide analysis using ribosome profiling and mRNA sequencing (mRNA-seq).
• Comparative analysis across four nematode species to identify conserved regulatory patterns.

Main Results:

• Translational regulation and mRNA abundance changes act synergistically to remodel gene expression during L1 diapause exit.
• Ribosome footprint abundance changes were more conserved across species than mRNA abundance changes.
• A conserved mechanism involves translational suppression of ribosomal protein production during diapause, followed by activation upon development resumption.

Conclusions:

• Translational regulation plays a substantial, genome-wide role in maintaining stable gene expression during L1 diapause and its exit.
• Functional conservation of translational dynamics highlights its importance in the evolutionary maintenance of gene expression programs in nematodes.