Comparative ribosome profiling uncovers a dominant role for translational control in Toxoplasma gondii

BMC Genomics

Research Article

Chew Guo-Liang¹  Musa A. Hassan²  T. Nicolai Siegel³  Juan J. Vasquez⁴  Markus Meissner⁵ 

[1] Computational Biology Program, Basic Sciences and Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, 98105, Seattle, WA, USA;Division of Infection and Immunity, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK;The Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK;Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, University of Wuerzburg, 97080, Wuerzburg, Germany;Department of Veterinary Sciences, Experimental Parasitology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, 80802, Munich, Germany;Biomedical Center Munich, Physiological Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany;Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, University of Wuerzburg, 97080, Wuerzburg, Germany;Present address: Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA;Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK;Department of Veterinary Sciences, Experimental Parasitology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, 80802, Munich, Germany;

关键词: Ribosome profiling;    RNA-sequencing;    Translation efficiency;    Toxoplasma gondii;    Apicomplexan;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12864-017-4362-6

 received in 2017-07-05, accepted in 2017-12-01,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe lytic cycle of the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which involves a brief sojourn in the extracellular space, is characterized by defined transcriptional profiles. For an obligate intracellular parasite that is shielded from the cytosolic host immune factors by a parasitophorous vacuole, the brief entry into the extracellular space is likely to exert enormous stress. Due to its role in cellular stress response, we hypothesize that translational control plays an important role in regulating gene expression in Toxoplasma during the lytic cycle. Unlike transcriptional profiles, insights into genome-wide translational profiles of Toxoplasma gondii are lacking.MethodsWe have performed genome-wide ribosome profiling, coupled with high throughput RNA sequencing, in intracellular and extracellular Toxoplasma gondii parasites to investigate translational control during the lytic cycle.ResultsAlthough differences in transcript abundance were mostly mirrored at the translational level, we observed significant differences in the abundance of ribosome footprints between the two parasite stages. Furthermore, our data suggest that mRNA translation in the parasite is potentially regulated by mRNA secondary structure and upstream open reading frames.ConclusionWe show that most of the Toxoplasma genes that are dysregulated during the lytic cycle are translationally regulated.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017