On translational control by ribosome speed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In addition to the widespread and well documented control of protein synthesis by translation initiation, recent evidence suggests that translation elongation can also control protein synthesis rates. One of the proposed mechanisms leading to elongation control is the interference of slow ribosome movement around the start codon with efficient translation initiation. Here we estimate the frequency with which this mode of control occurs in baker9s yeast growing in rich medium. Genome-wide data reveal that transcripts from around 20% of yeast genes show evidence of queueing ribosomes, which may be indicative of translation elongation control. Moreover, this subset of transcripts is sensitive to distinct regulatory signals compared to initiation-controlled mRNAs, and such distinct regulation occurs for example during the response to osmotic stress.