Alterations in translational control mechanisms in Friend erythroleukemic cells during DMSO induced differentiation

Induction of erythroid differentiation in Friend erythroleukemia cells causes a reduction in the rate of protein synthesis and a prolonged growth cycle of the cells. A study of the relative translational efficiencies (RTE) of viral mRNAs and selected host cell mRNAs revealed unexpected low RTEs of the mRNA coding for the gp70 protein and RTE of the mRNA coding for the p30 protein. The RTEs of viral and of some host mRNAs show significant changes during differentiation. The rate of synthesis of corresponding proteins are altered non-coordinately, indicating transcriptional and/or posttranscriptional regulation of mRNA, as well as amplified regulation at the level of translation of mRNA.