Differential efficiencies of in vitro translation of mouse c-myc transcripts differing in the 5' untranslated region

We have studied the in vitro translational efficiencies of two murine c-myc transcripts synthesized in vitro that differ in the lengths of their 5' noncoding regions (448 and 83 nucleotides) and also in their 3' noncoding regions. When translated in a reticulocyte translation system, the shorter transcript was translated 10-fold more efficiently. These results are consistent with the hypothesis of Saito et al. [Saito, H., Hayday, A. C., Wiman, K., Hayward, W. S. & Tonegawa, S. (1983) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 80, 7476-7480] that translation of full-length human c-myc mRNA is normally repressed, whereas in several Burkitt lymphomas that have deletions of the mRNA 5' noncoding region (resulting from translocation of the c-myc gene), translation of the c-myc mRNA is more efficient. Our results suggest that activation of murine c-myc expression by production of a more efficient mRNA might in some cases play a role in neoplastic transformation.