RPL39L is an example of a recently evolved ribosomal protein paralog that shows highly specific tissue expression patterns and is upregulated in ESCs and HCC tumors.
Ribosomal proteins (RPs) have been shown to be able to impart selectivity on the translating ribosome implicating them in gene expression control. Many ribosomal proteins are highly conserved and recently a number of ribosomal protein paralogs have been described in mammals. We examined the expression pattern of RPs in differentiating mouse Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs), paying particular attention to the RP paralogs. We find the RP paralog Rpl39l is highly expressed in ESC and its expression strongly correlates with hepatocellular carcinoma tumor (HCC) samples with high tumor grading and alpha-fetoprotein level giving it diagnostic potential. We further screen the expression pattern of all RPs and their paralogs across 22 different tissues. We find that the more recently evolved RP paralogs show a much greater level of tissue-specific expression. We propose that these RP paralogs evolved more recently to provide a greater level of gene expression control to higher eukaryotes.
A*STAR Institute of Medical Biology; 8A Biomedical Grove; Immunos, Singapore.
Queenie Wing-Lei
QW
Wong
Cancer Science Institute; National University of Singapore; Singapore.
Jia
J
Li
A*STAR Institute of Medical Biology; 8A Biomedical Grove; Immunos, Singapore.
Sheng Rong
SR
Ng
Department of Medicine; Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine; National University of Singapore; Singapore.
Seng Gee
SG
Lim
Cancer Science Institute; National University of Singapore; Singapore.
Henry
H
Yang
A*STAR Institute of Medical Biology; 8A Biomedical Grove; Immunos, Singapore; School of Biological Sciences; Nanyang Technological University; Singapore.
Leah A
LA
Vardy
D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002460:Cell Line; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010802:Phylogeny; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*
D012269:Ribosomal Proteins; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins
RPL39L; hepatocellular carcinoma; ribosomal protein; ribosomal protein paralogs