Translation specificity and ribosomal heterogeneity

Abstract

Control of gene expression is essential for cellular processes to proceed correctly as disturbances in both RNA and protein lev- els have shown to be causative for a multitude of diseases and developmental defects (Orkin et al 1982, Kishino et al 1997). For instance the process of development is highly regulated and is especially sensitive to disturbances in gene expression. Many de- velopmental defects are the direct result of the misregulation of one or more gene products during a specific time point during development (Chisaka and Capecchi 1991). Most of the attention on gene regulation is focused on transcription, in part because a lot is known about transcription by the use of expression-array and RNA sequencing technology. Recently, methods have be- come available that suggest that ribosomes are more than constitutive translation machines. This, in combination with the fact that regulation of the translation from RNA to protein has shown to be of vital importance during development (Ganapathi and Shimamra 2008) shows that a focus on translational events can be of great interest. This master thesis will focus on the methods to assess translation, the mechanisms of translational regulation in different organisms during development and the selectivity of the process and I will end with my view on current interesting perspectives in the field of translational regulation and ribosome specificity.