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Poly(A)-tail profiling reveals an embryonic switch in translational control.

Alexander O Subtelny¹, Stephen W Eichhorn², Grace R Chen³

¹1] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [3] Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [4] Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [5].

|January 31, 2014

Summary

Poly(A)-tail length profiling by sequencing (PAL-seq) measures RNA tail lengths across species. This reveals conserved tail lengths and a developmental switch in translational control during embryogenesis.

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Area of Science:

Molecular Biology
Genomics
Developmental Biology

Background:

Polyadenylation is crucial for eukaryotic messenger RNA (mRNA) stability and translation.
Global measurement of poly(A)-tail lengths has been technically challenging, limiting understanding of their function.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop and apply a high-throughput method for measuring poly(A)-tail lengths across diverse species.
To investigate the relationship between poly(A)-tail length, mRNA stability, and translational efficiency during development.

Main Methods:

Poly(A)-tail length profiling by sequencing (PAL-seq) was developed to quantify individual RNA poly(A)-tail lengths.
PAL-seq was applied to millions of RNAs from various organisms, including yeast, cell lines, Arabidopsis, mouse, zebrafish, and frog.

Main Results:

Poly(A)-tail lengths were conserved across orthologous mRNAs in different species.
mRNAs encoding ribosomal proteins and housekeeping genes generally exhibited shorter poly(A) tails.
A strong coupling between poly(A)-tail length and translational efficiency was observed in early zebrafish and frog embryos, which diminished during gastrulation.

Conclusions:

The study identified conserved patterns of poly(A)-tail length and revealed a significant developmental switch in translational control.
This switch in translational regulation complements the transition to zygotic transcriptional control and explains microRNA-mediated deadenylation effects.