Cited by 450RNA and protein synthesis mechanismsRNA Research and SplicingRNA modifications and cancer

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 55 of the 55 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 39 of the 51 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

Human 5′ UTR design and variant effect prediction from a massively parallel translation assay

Open access
Sample, Paul J., Wang, Ban, Reid, David W., Presnyak, Vlad, McFadyen, Iain J., Morris, David R., Seelig, Georg·2019·Nature Biotechnology

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

The ability to predict the impact of cis-regulatory sequences on gene expression would facilitate discovery in fundamental and applied biology. Here we combine polysome profiling of a library of 280,000 randomized 5' untranslated regions (UTRs) with deep learning to build a predictive model that relates human 5' UTR sequence to translation. Together with a genetic algorithm, we use the model to engineer new 5' UTRs that accurately direct specified levels of ribosome loading, providing the ability to tune sequences for optimal protein expression. We show that the same approach can be extended to chemically modified RNA, an important feature for applications in mRNA therapeutics and synthetic biology. We test 35,212 truncated human 5' UTRs and 3,577 naturally occurring variants and show that the model predicts ribosome loading of these sequences. Finally, we provide evidence of 45 single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) associated with human diseases that substantially change ribosome loading and thus may represent a molecular basis for disease.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

The paper combines polysome profiling of a 280,000-member randomized human 5′ UTR library with a convolutional neural network, Optimus 5-Prime, to predict ribosome loading from 5′ UTR sequence. The model explains up to 93% of mean ribosome load variation, predicts effects of human variants and modified RNA, and enables genetic-algorithm design of 5′ UTRs for targeted translation.

Key findings

  • Optimus 5-Prime explained 93% of MRL variation in a held-out test set of 20,000 sequences, versus at best 66% for position-specific k-mer linear models; it also predicted full polysome distributions with an average 83% of variation across fractions.
  • The model generalized to an mCherry reporter library (77% and 78% of MRL variation in two experiments), to 35,212 common human 5′ UTRs plus 3,577 ClinVar variants (81% of MRL variation), and to Ψ- and m1Ψ-modified RNA (68% and 76% of variability, respectively).
  • For human variant effects, the model explained 55% of observed MRL change and predicted direction for 64% of variants; 45 SNVs had log2 differences >0.5 or <−0.5, including CPOX rs867711777 (−0.89), RPL5 rs376208311 (−0.87), and TMEM127 rs121908813 (−1.5).
  • A genetic algorithm designed 12,000 UTRs for target MRLs; after retraining on 6,082 target-MRL UTRs and 2,695 unseen random UTRs, held-out target-MRL performance improved from r² = 0.386 to 0.772.

Methods

  • A 280,000-member eGFP library with 50-nt random 5′ UTRs was in vitro transcribed, transfected into HEK293T cells, polysome-profiled, sequenced, and converted to mean ribosome load (MRL); validation included mCherry, modified UTP, human/ClinVar, and 25–100 nt length libraries.
  • A CNN was trained on 260,000 sequences and tested on 20,000, using Keras/TensorFlow, grid-search hyperparameters, three convolution layers, and a dense layer; separate models predicted polysome fractions and were used with a genetic algorithm for UTR design.
  • Human analyses used the first 50 nt upstream of annotated translation initiation sites for 35,212 Ensembl transcripts and 3,577 ClinVar variants; a generalized model used 76,319 random sequences of 25–100 nt and test sets of 7,600 random and 7,600 human UTRs.

Limitations

  • The paper states that the model was trained on synthetic random sequences, that the 50-nt model covers only 13% of human 5′ UTRs, that the 25–100 nt extension covers 29%, and that longer UTRs had lower read coverage and lower test-set quality.
  • The paper notes lower accuracy for variant effect prediction because it compares two noisy measurements and most variants have little effect; it also reports divergence at very high MRLs due to unusual poly-U composition, corrected by retraining, and lower mCherry accuracy partly due to protocol differences.
  • Evident from the text: experiments use HEK293T/HEK293 cells, transfected IVT mRNA, and eGFP/mCherry reporters rather than endogenous chromatin/transcription contexts; polysome profiling measures ribosome loading, with protein output validated only for selected UTRs, and the model does not include 5′ cap structure or 3′ UTR sequence.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/s41587-019-0164-5

Cites

55 of 55 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

41 Own result · 18 Own interpretation · 11 Partly supported · 9 Own method · 6 No basis given · 5 Supported · 3 Sources not found · 2 Supported so far · 2 No full text of the sources · 1 Mixed support · accuracy not yet measured

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 23
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 21
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
40 of 40
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The field lacks a means to accurately predict protein expression from 5′ UTR sequence alone.

    “While many cis-regulatory elements within human 5′ UTRs have been characterized individually, the field still lacks a means to accurately predict protein expression from 5′ UTR sequence alone, limiting the ability to estimate the effects of genome-encoded variants and the ability to engineer 5′ UTRs for precise translation control.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The region surrounding the start codon (the translation initiation site or Kozak sequence) is a primary determinant of whether a ribosome will begin translation.

    “The region surrounding the start codon, known as the translation initiation site (TIS) or the Kozak sequence, is a primary determinant of whether a ribosome will begin translation.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The first 50 bases upstream of the CDS contain the regulatory signals that mediate translation initiation beyond ribosomal recruitment to the 5′ cap.

    “We initially focused on the first 50 bases upstream of the CDS to specifically investigate the regulatory signals that mediate the initiation of translation beyond ribosomal recruitment to the 5′ cap.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    TMEM127 acts as a tumor suppressor.

    “TMEM127 acts as a tumor suppressor and decreased expression of it could explain the observed pathogenicity of this variant.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The variant rs376208311 is associated with Diamond-Blackfan anemia (BDA).

    “This variant is associated with Diamond-Blackfan anemia (BDA).”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Changes in mean ribosome load (MRL) measured in the assay reflect changes in protein expression that can affect disease pathogenicity.

    “select those for further study that have the strongest impact on ribosome loading and thus the highest likelihood of being pathogenic.”
6 of 6

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Metadata

Authors
Sample, P. J., Wang, B., Reid, D. W., Presnyak, V., McFadyen, I. J., Morris, D. R., & Seelig, G.
Affiliations
  • University of Washington (US)
  • Moderna Therapeutics (United States) (US)
Corresponding author
Seelig, Georg
Venue
Nature Biotechnology
Published
2019-07
Volume
37
Issue
7
Pages
803-809
ISSN
  • 0733-222X (ISSN-L)
  • 1087-0156
  • 1546-1696
OpenAlex
W2955231772
Cited by
442
References
52
Citations by year
2026: 71 · 2025: 92 · 2024: 96 · 2023: 58 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 47 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 14
FWCI
10.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Biotechnology (publishedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Human Genome Research Institute (R01CA207029)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA Research and Splicing
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA modifications and cancer
Keywords
5' untranslated region, translation initiation, ribosome loading, cis-regulatory sequences, variant effect prediction, single nucleotide variants, RNA modification, mRNA therapeutics, synthetic biology, deep learning, genetic algorithm, sequence design, polysome profiling, disease-associated variants
MeSH terms
Base Sequence, Gene Expression Regulation, Humans, Models, Genetic, Pseudouridine, Ribosomes, RNA, Messenger, Protein Biosynthesis, Reproducibility of Results, 5' Untranslated Regions

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