Mammalian Alternative Translation Initiation Is Mostly Nonadaptive.

ABSTRACT: Alternative translation initiation (ATLI) refers to the existence of multiple translation initiation sites per gene and is a widespread phenomenon in eukaryotes. ATLI is commonly assumed to be advantageous through creating proteome diversity or regulating protein synthesis. We here propose an alternative hypothesis that ATLI arises primarily from nonadaptive initiation errors presumably due to the limited ability of ribosomes to distinguish sequence motifs truly signaling translation initiation from similar sequences. Our hypothesis, but not the adaptive hypothesis, predicts a series of global patterns of ATLI, all of which are confirmed at the genomic scale by quantitative translation initiation sequencing in multiple human and mouse cell lines and tissues. Similarly, although many codons

SUBMITTER: Xu C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7828576 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature