Deciphering the rules by which 5′-UTR sequences affect protein expression in yeast
Open accessAbstract
Significance: This study quantifies how protein levels are determined by the underlying 5′-UTR sequence of an mRNA. We accurately measured protein abundance in 2,041 5′-UTR sequence variants, differing only in positions −10 to −1. We show that a few nucleotide substitutions can significantly alter protein expression. We also developed a predictive model that explains two-thirds of the expression variation. We provide convincing evidence that key regulatory elements, including AUG sequence context, mRNA secondary structure, and out-of-frame upstream AUGs conjointly modulate protein levels. Our study can aid in synthetic biology applications, by suggesting sequence manipulations for fine-tuning protein expression in a predictable manner.
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Stable secondary structure in the 5′-UTR before or flanking the start codon decreases protein production.
“As demonstrated in previous studies on translation initiation in yeast [55] and in mouse cell lines [56], stable secondary structure in the 5′-UTR before or flanking the start codon decreases protein production.”
From Detailed Dissection and Critical Evaluation of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA Vaccines (2021) · cites this paper as [55]
The Results (Fig. 3; page unavailable) report that more stable structures near the start codon are associated with reduced protein levels in yeast. But the paper describes this as a correlation and says such structures may impede ribosomal scanning; it does not demonstrate that the structures themselves cause the decrease asserted in the citing sentence. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis
Wickham, H. (2009) · doi:10.1007/978-0-387-98141-3 · Cited by 14,447 · see citing works
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Tuller, T., Waldman, Y. Y., Kupiec, M., & Ruppin, E. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0909910107 · Cited by 584 · see citing works
The mRNA landscape at yeast translation initiation sites
Robbins-Pianka, A., Rice, M. D., & Weir, M. P. (2010) · Bioinformatics · doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btq509 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Dvir, S., Velten, L., Sharon, E., Zeevi, D., Carey, L. B., Weinberger, A., & Segal, E.
- Affiliations
- Weizmann Institute of Science (IL)
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (DE)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2013-07-05
- Volume
- 110
- Issue
- 30
- Pages
- E2792-801
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC3725075
- OpenAlex
- W2000137108
- Cited by
- 246
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 6.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2019-06-17)
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01ca119176-10)
- National Human Genome Research Institute (R01HG004361)
- National Cancer Institute (R01-CA119176)
- 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 › Fungal and yeast genetics research
- Keywords
- 5' untranslated region, mRNA secondary structure, protein abundance, upstream AUGs, translational regulation, yeast, next-generation sequencing, nucleotide composition, translation initiation sites
- MeSH terms
- Base Sequence, Fungal Proteins, Nucleic Acid Conformation, RNA, Messenger, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, DNA Primers, Codon, Initiator, 5' Untranslated Regions
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