Translation regulation by ribosomes: Increased complexity and expanded scope

The primary function of ribosomes is to decode mRNAs into polypeptide chains; however, this description is overly simplistic. Accumulating evidence shows that ribosomes themselves can affect the relative efficiency with which various mRNAs are translated and indicates that these effects can be modulated by ribosome heterogeneity. The notion that ribosomes have regulatory capabilities was elaborated more than a decade ago in the ribosome filter hypothesis. Various lines of evidence support this idea and have shown that the translation of some mRNAs is affected by discrete binding interactions with rRNA or ribosomal proteins. Recent work from our laboratory has demonstrated that base-pairing of the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) internal ribosome entry site (IRES) to 18S rRNA is required for IRES function, but only in the context of more complex ribosomal interactions. The HCV IRES provides an example of the ribosome filter that involves multiple binding interactions between mRNAs and ribosomal subunits.