Homeostasis in the Central Dogma of molecular biology: the importance of mRNA instability
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Abstract
Cell survival requires the control of biomolecule concentration, i.e. biomolecules should approach homeostasis. With information-carrying macromolecules, the particular concentration variation ranges depend on each type: DNA is not buffered, but mRNA and protein concentrations are homeostatically controlled, which leads to the ribostasis and proteostasis concepts. In recent years, we have studied the particular features of mRNA ribostasis and proteostasis in the model organism S. cerevisiae. Here we extend this study by comparing published data from three other model organisms: E. coli, S. pombe and cultured human cells. We describe how mRNA ribostasis is less strict than proteostasis. A constant ratio appears between the average decay and dilution rates during cell growth for mRNA, but not for proteins. We postulate that this is due to a trade-off between the cost of synthesis and the response capacity. This compromise takes place at the transcription level, but is not possible at the translation level as the high stability of proteins, versus that of mRNAs, precludes it. We hypothesize that the middle-place role of mRNA in the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology and its chemical instability make it more suitable than proteins for the fast changes needed for gene regulation.
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Pérez-Ortín, J. E., Tordera, V., & Chávez, S.
- Affiliations
- Universitat de València (ES)
- Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Pérez-Ortín, José E.
- Venue
- RNA Biology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-09-02
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1659-1666
- ISSN
- 1547-6286 (ISSN-L)
- 1555-8584
- PMC
- PMC6844571
- OpenAlex
- W2968760174
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 1.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- RNA Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RISalud Institutional Health Repository of Andalucía (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (submittedVersion)
- Repository of Digital Objects for Teaching Research and Culture (University of Valencia) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Funders
- de Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo, Junta de Andalucía (P12-BIO1938MO)
- Conselleria d’Educació, Investigació, Cultura i Esport (PROMETEO II 2015/006)
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (BFU2016-77728-C3-3-P, BFU2015-71978-REDT, BFU2016-77728-C3-1-P)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA Research and Splicing
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gene Regulatory Network Analysis
- Keywords
- proteostasis, mRNA stability, mRNA degradation, protein stability, response capacity, gene expression regulation, central dogma, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Escherichia coli, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, human cells
- MeSH terms
- Proteostasis, DNA, Escherichia coli, Gene Expression Regulation, HeLa Cells, Homeostasis, Humans, Proteins, RNA, Messenger, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces, Transcription, Genetic, Evolution, Molecular, RNA Stability
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