Why the study?
How the ribosome functionally diversifies and how a negatively charged RACK1 loop affects ribosome structure and broader translational output remain poorly understood.
A negative charge in the RACK1 loop alters ribosome structure and broadens its translational capacity, supporting noncanonical translation modes.
Poxvirus RACK1 S278 phosphorylation enables selective translation; hypothesis-generating and leaves open any clinical relevance.
Although the roles of initiation factors, RNA binding proteins, and RNA elements in regulating translation are well defined, how the ribosome functionally diversifies remains poorly understood. In their human hosts, poxviruses phosphorylate serine 278 (S 278 ) at the tip of a loop domain in the small subunit ribosomal protein RACK1, thereby mimicking negatively charged residues in the RACK1 loops of dicot plants and protists to stimulate translation of transcripts with 5′ poly(A) leaders. However, how a negatively charged RACK1 loop affects ribosome structure and its broader translational output is not known. Here, we show that although ribotoxin-induced stress signaling and stalling on poly(A) sequences are unaffected, negative charge in the RACK1 loop alters the swivel motion of the 40S head domain in a manner similar to several internal ribosome entry sites (IRESs), confers resistance to various protein synthesis inhibitors, and broadly supports noncanonical modes of translation.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Rollins et al. (2021) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: