Project description:Analysis of HEK293 cells lines expressing mutant ribosomal protein RPS2 (human A226Y). RPS2 A226Y mutation has been shown to cause misreading and readthrough. Results provide insight into the response to chronic mistranslation in mammalian cells.
Project description:To investigate how organisms mitigate the deleterious effects of mistranslation during evolution, a mutant tRNA was expressed in S. cerevisiae. The expression of Candida Ser-tRNACAG from a low copy plasmid in S. cerevisiae promoted mistranslation events by random incorporation of both serine and leucine at CUG codons. As mistranslation causes an overload of the protein quality pathways, it disrupts cellular protein homeostasis leading to a major fall in fitness. Laboratory evolutionary experiments were performed to study whether the fitness cost of mistranslation can be lowered. We also wanted to identify the cost-reduction strategy: reducing the frequencies of errors (mitigation), or increasing tolerance to errors (robustness), either by global or local activities.
Project description:<p>Translation fidelity is the limiting factor in the accuracy of gene expression. With an estimated frequency of 10-4, errors in mRNA decoding occur in a mostly stochastic manner. Little is known about the response of higher eukaryotes to chronic loss of ribosomal accuracy as per an increase in the random error rate of mRNA decoding. Here, we present a global and comprehensive picture of the cellular changes in response to translational accuracy in mammalian ribosomes impaired by genetic manipulation. In addition to affecting established protein quality control pathways, such as elevated transcript levels for cytosolic chaperones, activation of the ubiquitin-proteasome system, and translational slowdown, ribosomal mistranslation led to unexpected responses. In particular, we observed increased mitochondrial biogenesis associated with import of misfolded proteins into the mitochondria and silencing of the unfolded protein response in the endoplasmic reticulum.</p><p><br></p><p>This study describes the metabolomic analysis of HEK293 cells lines expressing mutant ribosomal protein RPS2 (human A226Y). RPS2 A226Y mutation has been shown to cause misreading and readthrough. Results provide insight into the response to chronic mistranslation in mammalian cells.</p>
Project description:Mistranslation describes the misincorporation of an amino acid into a nascent polypeptide. Mistranslation has diverse effects on multicellular eukaryotes and is implicated in several human diseases. We introduced a mistranslating serine transfer RNA (tRNA) into Drosophila melanogaster that misincorporates serine at proline codons and found that it affected male and female flies differently. Here, we compare the transcriptomic response of male and female flies to mistranslation to identify cellular pathways that underlie this sex-specific response. Both males and females downregulated genes associated with metabolism in response to proline-to-serine mistranslation. Only males downregulated genes associated with developmental processes and response to negative stimuli such as infection, whereas only females downregulated aerobic respiration and ATP synthesis genes. Both sexes upregulated genes associated with gametogenesis but females upregulated cell cycle and DNA maintenance genes, suggesting that mistranslation may compromise genome integrity in females. This transcriptomic analysis advances our understanding of how males and females respond to mistranslation and has important implications for future studies that examine the influence of mistranslation on disease.
Project description:To investigate how organisms mitigate the deleterious effects of mistranslation during evolution, a mutant tRNA was expressed in S. cerevisiae. The expression of Candida Ser-tRNACAG from a low copy plasmid in S. cerevisiae promoted mistranslation events by random incorporation of both serine and leucine at CUG codons. As mistranslation causes an overload of the protein quality pathways, it disrupts cellular protein homeostasis leading to a major fall in fitness. Laboratory evolutionary experiments were performed to study whether the fitness cost of mistranslation can be lowered. We also wanted to identify the cost-reduction strategy: reducing the frequencies of errors (mitigation), or increasing tolerance to errors (robustness), either by global or local activities. Gene expression was measured in the ancestor (non-evolved) lineage in two different situations: 1) carrying an empty vector and 2) expressing the mutant Ser-tRNACAG. Gene expression was also measured in three ambiguously evolved lineages (B3, D11, H9) in both situations (carrying an empty vector and expressing the mutant tRNA). Three independent experiments were performed for each lineage. Non-evolved strain with empty vector was used as control sample.
Project description:Transcriptome analysis in cells after 20 hours of mistranslation induction in relation to control cells at the same time point where mistranslation was not induced (without the inducible tRNA construction)
Project description:The leucine CUG codon was reassigned to serine in the fungal pathogen Candida albicans. To clarify the biological role of this tuneable codon ambiguity on drug resistance, we evolved C. albicans strains that were engineered to mistranslate the CUG codon at constitutively elevated levels, in the presence and absence of the antifungal drug fluconazole. Elevated levels of mistranslation resulted in the rapid acquisition of resistance to fluconazole.
Project description:By physically linking amino acids to their codon assignments, transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are essential for protein synthesis and translation fidelity. Some natural human tRNA variants cause amino acid mis-incorporation at a codon or set of codons. Recent work showed a naturally occurring tRNASer variant decodes phenylalanine codons with serine and inhibits protein synthesis. We hypothesized that human tRNA variants that mis-read glycine (Gly) codons with alanine (Ala) will disrupt protein homeostasis. The A3G mutation occurs naturally in tRNAGly variants (tRNAGlyCCC, tRNAGlyGCC) and creates an alanyl-tRNA synthetase (AlaRS) identity element (G3:U70). Because AlaRS does not recognize the anticodon, the human tRNAAlaAGC G35C (tRNAAlaACC) variant may function similarly to mis-incorporate Ala at Gly codons. The tRNAGly and tRNAAla variants had no effect on protein synthesis in mammalian cells under normal growth conditions, however, tRNAGlyGCC A3G depressed protein synthesis in the context of proteasome inhibition. Mass spectrometry confirmed Ala mistranslation at several Gly codons caused by the tRNAGlyGCC A3G and tRNAAlaAGC G35C mutants, and in some cases, we observed multiple mistranslation events in the same peptide. The data reveal mistranslation of Ala at Gly codons and defects in protein homeostasis generated by natural human tRNA variants that are tolerated under normal conditions.
Project description:Genome-wide transcriptional profiling results were used to examine the effect of a psychological stress paradigm for rodents (chronic restraint) on indicies of biological aging in murine femoral bone marrow leukocytes and to assess the extent to which propranolol could block such effects.