Translational regulation of protrusion-localized RNAs involves silencing and clustering after transport
Abstract
Localization of RNAs to various subcellular destinations is a widely used mechanism that regulates a large proportion of transcripts in polarized cells. In many cases, such localized transcripts mediate spatial control of gene expression by being translationally silent while in transit and locally activated at their destination. Here, we investigate the translation of RNAs localized at dynamic cellular protrusions of human and mouse, migrating, mesenchymal cells. In contrast to the model described above, we find that protrusion-localized RNAs are not locally activated solely at protrusions, but can be translated with similar efficiency in both internal and peripheral locations. Interestingly, protrusion-localized RNAs are translated at extending protrusions, they become translationally silenced in retracting protrusions and this silencing is accompanied by coalescence of single RNAs into larger heterogeneous RNA clusters. This work describes a distinct mode of translational regulation of localized RNAs, which we propose is used to regulate protein activities during dynamic cellular responses.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Cancer Institute (Intramural Research Program of the Center for Cancer Research)
- Stavroula Mili
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Reviewing Editor
- Robert H Singer, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, United States
Version history
- Received: December 27, 2018
- Accepted: July 8, 2019
- Accepted Manuscript published: July 10, 2019 (version 1)
- Version of Record published: July 18, 2019 (version 2)
Copyright
This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
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