title: Translational repression stabilizes messenger RNA of autophagy-related genes.
abstract: In response to amino acid starvation, autophagy mediates the lysosome-dependent turnover of cytosolic components via autophagosome formation. Despite advances in understanding the molecular basis of autophagy process, the regulatory mechanism remains unclear. Here, we show that repression of protein synthesis stabilizes the messenger RNAs of specific autophagy-related (ATG) genes, increasing their respective half-lives. Further analysis indicated that the stabilization process is attributable to the coding region of the mRNAs. The results suggest a novel mechanism of autophagy regulation by post-transcriptional mRNA stabilization, in which repression of protein synthesis plays a direct role to sustain the autophagy process.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Chemical Research (ICR), Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Bilon
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Khambu
authors.forename: Motonari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uesugi
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawazoe
mesh_terms: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions / Q000235:genetics; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D001343:Autophagy / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D020871:RNA Stability / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D000596:Amino Acids; D011506:Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger