RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Natural avoidance of stochastic mRNA:ncRNA interactions can be harnessed to control protein expression levels
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 033613
DO 10.1101/033613
A1 Sinan U. Umu
A1 Anthony M. Poole
A1 Renwick C.J. Dobson
A1 Paul P. Gardner
YR 2015
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/12/04/033613.abstract
AB A critical assumption of gene expression analysis is that mRNA abundances broadly correlate with protein abundance. However, they don’t. Some of the discrepancy can be accounted for by codon usage and mRNA structure. We present a new model, called mRNA:ncRNA avoidance, and provide evidence that this model explains translation efficiency. We demonstrate strong selection for avoidance of stochastic mRNA:ncRNA interactions across prokaryotes, and that these have a greater impact on protein abundance than mRNA structure or codon usage. By generating synonymously variant green fluorescent protein (GFP) mRNAs with different potential for mRNA:ncRNA interactions, we demonstrate that GFP levels correlate well with interaction avoidance. Therefore, taking stochastic mRNA:ncRNA interactions into account enables precise modulation of protein abundance.