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Polysome Fractionation and Analysis of Mammalian Translatomes on a Genome-wide Scale
Published on: May 17, 2014
Protein-directed ribosomal frameshifting temporally regulates gene expression
Sawsan Napthine1, Roger Ling1, Leanne K Finch1
1Division of Virology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QP, UK.
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Programmed -1 ribosomal frameshifting is a mechanism of gene expression, whereby specific signals within messenger RNAs direct a proportion of translating ribosomes to shift -1 nt and continue translating in the new reading frame. Such frameshifting normally occurs at a set ratio and is utilized in the expression of many viral genes and a number of cellular genes. An open question is whether proteins might function as trans-acting switches to turn frameshifting on or off in response to cellular conditions. Here we show that frameshifting in a model RNA virus, encephalomyocarditis virus, is trans-activated by viral protein 2A. As a result, the frameshifting efficiency increases from 0 to 70% (one of the highest known in a mammalian system) over the course of infection, temporally regulating the expression levels of the viral structural and enzymatic proteins.
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