Sequences within 5' UTRs dictate the site and efficiency of translation initiation. In this study, an unbiased screen designed to interrogate the 5' UTR-mediated regulation of the growth-promoting gene MYC unexpectedly revealed the ribosomal pause relief factor eIF5A as a regulator of translation initiation codon selection. Depletion of eIF5A enhances upstream translation within 5' UTRs across yeast and human transcriptomes, including on the MYC transcript, where this results in increased production of an N-terminally extended protein. Furthermore, ribosome profiling experiments established that the function of eIF5A as a suppressor of ribosomal pausing at sites of suboptimal peptide bond formation is conserved in human cells. We present evidence that proximal ribosomal pausing on a transcript triggers enhanced use of upstream suboptimal or non-canonical initiation codons. Thus, we propose that eIF5A functions not only to maintain efficient translation elongation in eukaryotic cells but also to maintain the fidelity of translation initiation.
Keywords: 5’ untranslated region; MYC; eIF5A; ribosomal pausing; ribosome profiling; translation initiation; upstream translation.
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