The timely production of functional proteins is of critical importance for the biological activity of cells. To reach the functional state, newly synthesized polypeptides have to become enzymatically ...processed, folded, and assembled into oligomeric complexes and, for noncytosolic proteins, translocated across membranes. Key activities of these processes occur cotranslationally, assisted by a network of machineries that transiently engage nascent polypeptides at distinct phases of translation. The sequence of events is tuned by intrinsic features of the nascent polypeptides and timely association of factors with the translating ribosome. Considering the dynamics of translation, the heterogeneity of cellular proteins, and the diversity of interaction partners, it is a major cellular achievement that these processes are temporally and spatially so precisely coordinated, minimizing the generation of damaged proteins. This review summarizes the current progress we have made toward a comprehensive understanding of the cotranslational interactions of nascent chains, which pave the way to their functional state.
The early events in the life of newly synthesized proteins in the cellular environment are remarkably complex. Concurrently with their synthesis by the ribosome, nascent polypeptides are subjected to ...enzymatic processing, chaperone-assisted folding or targeting to translocation pores at membranes. The ribosome itself has a key role in these different tasks and governs the interplay between the various factors involved. Indeed, the ribosome serves as a platform for the spatially and temporally regulated association of enzymes, targeting factors and chaperones that act upon the nascent polypeptides emerging from the exit tunnel. Furthermore, the ribosome provides opportunities to coordinate the protein-synthesis activity of its peptidyl transferase center with the protein targeting and folding processes. Here we review the early co-translational events involving the ribosome that guide cytosolic proteins to their native state.
The folding of newly synthesized proteins to the native state is a major challenge within the crowded cellular environment, as non-productive interactions can lead to misfolding, aggregation and ...degradation
. Cells cope with this challenge by coupling synthesis with polypeptide folding and by using molecular chaperones to safeguard folding cotranslationally
. However, although most of the cellular proteome forms oligomeric assemblies
, little is known about the final step of folding: the assembly of polypeptides into complexes. In prokaryotes, a proof-of-concept study showed that the assembly of heterodimeric luciferase is an organized cotranslational process that is facilitated by spatially confined translation of the subunits encoded on a polycistronic mRNA
. In eukaryotes, however, fundamental differences-such as the rarity of polycistronic mRNAs and different chaperone constellations-raise the question of whether assembly is also coordinated with translation. Here we provide a systematic and mechanistic analysis of the assembly of protein complexes in eukaryotes using ribosome profiling. We determined the in vivo interactions of the nascent subunits from twelve hetero-oligomeric protein complexes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae at near-residue resolution. We find nine complexes assemble cotranslationally; the three complexes that do not show cotranslational interactions are regulated by dedicated assembly chaperones
. Cotranslational assembly often occurs uni-directionally, with one fully synthesized subunit engaging its nascent partner subunit, thereby counteracting its propensity for aggregation. The onset of cotranslational subunit association coincides directly with the full exposure of the nascent interaction domain at the ribosomal tunnel exit. The action of the ribosome-associated Hsp70 chaperone Ssb
is coordinated with assembly. Ssb transiently engages partially synthesized interaction domains and then dissociates before the onset of partner subunit association, presumably to prevent premature assembly interactions. Our study shows that cotranslational subunit association is a prevalent mechanism for the assembly of hetero-oligomers in yeast and indicates that translation, folding and the assembly of protein complexes are integrated processes in eukaryotes.
Translation regulation occurs largely during the initiation phase. Here, we develop selective 40S footprinting to visualize initiating 40S ribosomes on endogenous mRNAs in vivo. This reveals the ...positions on mRNAs where initiation factors join the ribosome to act and where they leave. We discover that in most human cells, most scanning ribosomes remain attached to the 5′ cap. Consequently, only one ribosome scans a 5′ UTR at a time, and 5′ UTR length affects translation efficiency. We discover that eukaryotic initiation factor 3B (eIF3B,) eIF4G1, and eIF4E remain bound to 80S ribosomes as they begin translating, with a decay half-length of ∼12 codons. Hence, ribosomes retain these initiation factors while translating short upstream open reading frames (uORFs), providing an explanation for how ribosomes can reinitiate translation after uORFs in humans. This method will be of use for studying translation initiation mechanisms in vivo.
Display omitted
•Selective 40S footprinting visualizes regulation of mRNA translation initiation in vivo•Scanning ribosomes are cap-tethered in most human cells•Only one ribosome scans a 5′ UTR at a time in most human cells•Ribosomes retain eIFs during early translation, allowing reinitiation after uORFs
Bohlen et al. develop 40S selective ribosome footprinting to detect scanning 40S ribosomes in vivo and the position on mRNAs when initiation factors join or disengage from the ribosome. They discover that ribosomes remain attached to initiation factors and the mRNA 5′ cap throughout the scanning process and early elongation.
Accurate assembly of newly synthesized proteins into functional oligomers is crucial for cell activity. In this study, we investigated whether direct interaction of two nascent proteins, emerging ...from nearby ribosomes (co-co assembly), constitutes a general mechanism for oligomer formation. We used proteome-wide screening to detect nascent chain-connected ribosome pairs and identified hundreds of homomer subunits that co-co assemble in human cells. Interactions are mediated by five major domain classes, among which N-terminal coiled coils are the most prevalent. We were able to reconstitute co-co assembly of nuclear lamin in
, demonstrating that dimer formation is independent of dedicated assembly machineries. Co-co assembly may thus represent an efficient way to limit protein aggregation risks posed by diffusion-driven assembly routes and ensure isoform-specific homomer formation.
Newly synthesized proteins often require the assistance of molecular chaperones to efficiently fold into functional three-dimensional structures. At first, ribosome-associated chaperones guide the ...initial folding steps and protect growing polypeptide chains from misfolding and aggregation. After that folding into the native structure may occur spontaneously or require support by additional chaperones which do not bind to the ribosome such as DnaK and GroEL. Here we review the current knowledge on the best-characterized ribosome-associated chaperone at present, the
Escherichia coli Trigger Factor. We describe recent progress on structural and dynamic aspects of Trigger Factor's interactions with the ribosome and substrates and discuss how these interactions affect co-translational protein folding. In addition, we discuss the newly proposed ribosome-independent function of Trigger Factor as assembly factor of multi-subunit protein complexes. Finally, we cover the functional cooperation between Trigger Factor, DnaK and GroEL in folding of cytosolic proteins and the interplay between Trigger Factor and other ribosome-associated factors acting in enzymatic processing and translocation of nascent polypeptide chains.
Analysis methods based on simulations and optimization have been previously developed to estimate relative translation rates from next-generation sequencing data. Translation involves molecules and ...chemical reactions, hence bioinformatics methods consistent with the laws of chemistry and physics are more likely to produce accurate results. Here, we derive simple equations based on chemical kinetic principles to measure the translation-initiation rate, transcriptome-wide elongation rate, and individual codon translation rates from ribosome profiling experiments. Our methods reproduce the known rates from ribosome profiles generated from detailed simulations of translation. By applying our methods to data from S. cerevisiae and mouse embryonic stem cells, we find that the extracted rates reproduce expected correlations with various molecular properties, and we also find that mouse embryonic stem cells have a global translation speed of 5.2 AA/s, in agreement with previous reports that used other approaches. Our analysis further reveals that a codon can exhibit up to 26-fold variability in its translation rate depending upon its context within a transcript. This broad distribution means that the average translation rate of a codon is not representative of the rate at which most instances of that codon are translated, and it suggests that translational regulation might be used by cells to a greater degree than previously thought.
Cells sense elevated temperatures and mount an adaptive heat shock response that involves changes in gene expression, but the underlying mechanisms, particularly on the level of translation, remain ...unknown. Here we report that, in budding yeast, the essential translation initiation factor Ded1p undergoes heat-induced phase separation into gel-like condensates. Using ribosome profiling and an in vitro translation assay, we reveal that condensate formation inactivates Ded1p and represses translation of housekeeping mRNAs while promoting translation of stress mRNAs. Testing a variant of Ded1p with altered phase behavior as well as Ded1p homologs from diverse species, we demonstrate that Ded1p condensation is adaptive and fine-tuned to the maximum growth temperature of the respective organism. We conclude that Ded1p condensation is an integral part of an extended heat shock response that selectively represses translation of housekeeping mRNAs to promote survival under conditions of severe heat stress.
Display omitted
•Ded1p phase-separates in response to heat and pH to form gel condensates•Condensation inactivates Ded1p and represses housekeeping mRNAs•Ded1p condensation promotes stress protein production and limits cell growth•Ded1p condensation is adapted to the maximum growth temperature of a species
Heat-induced phase separation of a helicase promotes a switch in translation from housekeeping transcripts to stress-response transcripts.
Assembly of protein complexes is considered a posttranslational process involving random collision of subunits. We show that within the Escherichia coli cytosol, bacterial luciferase subunits LuxA ...and LuxB assemble into complexes close to the site of subunit synthesis. Assembly efficiency decreases markedly if subunits are synthesized on separate messenger RNAs from genes integrated at distant chromosomal sites. Subunit assembly initiates cotranslationally on nascent LuxB in vivo. The ribosome-associated chaperone trigger factor delays the onset of cotranslational interactions until the LuxB dimer interface is fully exposed. Protein assembly is thus directly coupled to the translation process and involves spatially confined, actively chaperoned cotranslational subunit interactions. Bacterial gene organization into operons therefore reflects a fundamental cotranslational mechanism for spatial and temporal regulation that is vital to effective assembly of protein complexes.
A number of enzymes, targeting factors and chaperones engage ribosomes to support fundamental steps of nascent protein maturation, including enzymatic processing, membrane targeting and ...co-translational folding. The selective ribosome profiling (SeRP) method is a new tool for studying the co-translational activity of maturation factors that provides proteome-wide information on a factor's nascent interactome, the onset and duration of binding and the mechanisms controlling factor engagement. SeRP is based on the combination of two ribosome-profiling (RP) experiments, sequencing the ribosome-protected mRNA fragments from all ribosomes (total translatome) and the ribosome subpopulation engaged by the factor of interest (factor-bound translatome). We provide a detailed SeRP protocol, exemplified for the yeast Hsp70 chaperone Ssb (stress 70 B), for studying factor interactions with nascent proteins that is readily adaptable to identifying nascent interactomes of other co-translationally acting eukaryotic factors. The protocol provides general guidance for experimental design and optimization, as well as detailed instructions for cell growth and harvest, the isolation of (factor-engaged) monosomes, the generation of a cDNA library and data analysis. Experience in biochemistry and RNA handling, as well as basic programing knowledge, is necessary to perform SeRP. Execution of a SeRP experiment takes 8-10 working days, and initial data analysis can be completed within 1-2 d. This protocol is an extension of the originally developed protocol describing SeRP in bacteria.
PDF
