Translational Control: Overview

• Description
• Reviews
• Pathway Key
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Pathway Description:

The synthesis of new protein is a highly regulated process that allows rapid cellular responses to diverse stimuli in the absence of transcription. Initiation of protein synthesis begins after the separation of the ribosome into its 40S and 60S subunits. Eukaryotic [translation] initiation factors (eIFs) catalyze the assembly of a functional ribosomal complex, which includes the 40S subunit, mRNA and tRNA, and finally the 60S subunit before the first peptide bond is formed. Most regulatory stimuli, such as growth factors and stress, control rate–limiting steps of the initiation process by either stimulating or inhibiting specific eIFs. Elevated levels of Ca2+ or cAMP can also attenuate translation by blocking the action of eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2).

Selected Reviews:

• Derry MC, Yanagiya A, Martineau Y, Sonenberg N (2006) Regulation of poly(A)-binding protein through PABP-interacting proteins. Cold Spring Harb. Symp. Quant. Biol. 71, 537–43.
• Klann E, Dever TE (2004) Biochemical mechanisms for translational regulation in synaptic plasticity. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 5(12), 931–42.
• Mamane Y, Petroulakis E, LeBacquer O, Sonenberg N (2006) mTOR, translation initiation and cancer. Oncogene 25(48), 6416–22.
• Sonenberg N, Hinnebusch AG (2007) New modes of translational control in development, behavior, and disease. Mol. Cell 28(5), 721–9.
• Steitz TA (2008) A structural understanding of the dynamic ribosome machine. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 9(3), 242–53.
• Xie W, Ted Brown W, Denman RB (2008) Translational regulation by non-protein-coding RNAs: different targets, common themes. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 373(4), 462–6.

CST would like to thank Prof. Nahum Sonenberg and Mark Livingstone, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, for reviewing these diagrams.