Bioinformatics Seminar
Time:
Venue: Na
12 July 2016
NaRegulation of mRNA translation initiation revealed by TCP-seq
Stuart ArcherMonash University
Eukaryotic translation initiation is a fundamental component of the central dogma of molecular biology ; and an important point of gene expression regulation ; however there are large blind spots in our knowledge of both the basic mechanism and the points in the process at which regulatory intervention can influence gene expression. I will describe the first results from TCP-seq ; a novel variant of RNA-seq that gives a transcriptome-wide snapshot of translation initiation events. By analysing the position and length of RNase-protected 'footprints' left behind by the small ribosomal subunit ; which is the first ribosomal subunit to bind mRNA ; general features of initiation and start-codon recognition can be discerned. Transcript-specific departures from the normal initiation processes are also apparent in many cases. These results underpin mechanistic models of translation initiation and termination ; built on decades of biochemical and structural investigation ; with direct in vivo evidence on a transcriptome-wide scale.;