Post-translational buffering leads to convergent protein expression levels between primates.

Area of Science:

• Genomics
• Evolutionary Biology
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Gene regulation differences between species shape unique human phenotypes.
• Most primate gene regulation divergence research focuses on transcription.

Purpose of the Study:

• To comprehensively analyze gene regulation across species by examining protein translation.
• To integrate transcript and protein level data to understand divergence.
• To identify key regulatory mechanisms driving species-specific protein levels.

Main Methods:

• Genome-wide ribosome occupancy profiling in human, chimpanzee, and rhesus macaque cell lines.
• Integration of messenger RNA and protein level measurements.
• Comparative analysis of gene expression and protein output across species.

Main Results:

• Post-translational buffering significantly contributes to protein level divergence, alongside transcriptional regulation.
• Transcriptional divergence is generally reflected in protein translation levels.
• Gene expression divergence is frequently attenuated post-translationally, possibly via modifications.

Conclusions:

• Post-translational buffering is a conserved mechanism.
• This buffering has led to relaxed selective constraint on transcript levels in humans.