Poster abstracts
Poster number 70 submitted by Isaiah Kaufman
Translation efficiency and evolution of the Kozak consensus sequence: What can Ribo-seq teach us?
Isaiah D. Kaufman (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University), Larry Wu (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University), Polly Hsu (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University)
Abstract:
Translation efficiency (TE) is important in regulating protein abundances and varies between different mRNA transcripts. With the increasing availability of Ribo-seq data, we can address the question: What are the mRNA motifs affecting translation efficiency in different species? To this end, we compared genes with high and low TE using Ribo-seq data from multiple eukaryotic species. Motif analysis consistently identified the sequence surrounding the translation start codon, referred to as the Kozak consensus sequence, as the strongest predictor of TE in all species. While the significance of the Kozak sequence is conserved, the optimal nucleotide sequence differs between species. To further characterize Kozak sequence divergence, we analyzed the Kozak sequences from the genomes of over 70 species from diverse eukaryotic lineages. In addition to confirming previous findings, we identified unique variations in Kozak sequence evolution in more divergent species. While interesting, we only have Ribo-seq data for a few of these species, limiting our ability to compare high and low TE genes across diverse lineages. We assessed whether existing Ribo-seq data could predict TE in other species without Ribo-seq data based on sequence homology. Although TE between orthologs of different species demonstrates only weak to moderate correlation, we can successfully predict distinct high and low TE groups in other species. Furthermore, the high TE groups identified through homology show consistently stronger bias in the Kozak sequences. In summary, our approach integrating Ribo-seq data reveals how the Kozak sequence consistently impacts TE in diverse species, despite changes in the sequence over time.
Keywords: Ribo-seq, Translation efficiency, Kozak sequence