Abstract 2257 Quality Control During Ribosome Assembly and Function

Quality Control During Ribosome Assembly and Function Katrin Karbstein, The Herbert Wertheim UF Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology Ribosomes synthesize proteins in all cells and are therefore key players in the protein homeostasis network. Not only are they responsible for mRNA selection and protein translation, protein folding begins inside the ribosome, and is influenced by translation. Moreover, because translation is essential for mRNA quality control, the integrity of the mRNA pool depends on the integrity of the ribosome pool. Thus, it is critical that ribosomes are correctly assembled, and maintain full functionality during their life cycle. In our lab we are studying mechanisms for quality control during assembly and translation that allow misassembled ribosomes to be detected and either degraded or repaired. We will present data demonstrating that misassembly of ribosomes is a common feature of cancer cells, which have evolved strategies to bypass quality control mechanisms to release defective ribosomes into the translating pool, which then promote the translation of an altered proteome that supports cancer development.