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Ribosome heterogeneity in Drosophila melanogaster gonads through paralog-switching

Hopes, Tayah; Norris, Karl; Agapiou, Michaela; McCarthy, Charley G.P.; Lewis, Philip A.; O'Connell, Mary J.; Fontana, Juan; Aspden, Julie L.

Ribosome heterogeneity in Drosophila melanogaster gonads through paralog-switching Thumbnail


Authors

Tayah Hopes

Karl Norris

Michaela Agapiou

Charley G.P. McCarthy

Philip A. Lewis

Juan Fontana

Julie L. Aspden



Abstract

Ribosomes have long been thought of as homogeneous macromolecular machines, but recent evidence suggests they are heterogeneous and could be specialised to regulate translation. Here, we have characterised ribosomal protein heterogeneity across 4 tissues of Drosophila melanogaster. We find that testes and ovaries contain the most heterogeneous ribosome populations, which occurs through a combination of paralog-enrichment and paralog-switching. We have solved structures of ribosomes purified from in vivo tissues by cryo-EM, revealing differences in precise ribosomal arrangement for testis and ovary 80S ribosomes. Differences in the amino acid composition of paralog pairs and their localisation on the ribosome exterior indicate paralog-switching could alter the ribosome surface, enabling different proteins to regulate translation. One testis-specific paralog-switching pair is also found in humans, suggesting this is a conserved site of ribosome heterogeneity. Overall, this work allows us to propose that mRNA translation might be regulated in the gonads through ribosome heterogeneity, providing a potential means of ribosome specialisation.

Citation

Hopes, T., Norris, K., Agapiou, M., McCarthy, C. G., Lewis, P. A., O'Connell, M. J., …Aspden, J. L. (2022). Ribosome heterogeneity in Drosophila melanogaster gonads through paralog-switching. Nucleic Acids Research, 50(4), 2240-2257. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkab606

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 2, 2021
Online Publication Date Jul 20, 2021
Publication Date Feb 28, 2022
Deposit Date Nov 28, 2022
Publicly Available Date Nov 29, 2022
Journal Nucleic Acids Research
Print ISSN 0305-1048
Electronic ISSN 1362-4962
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 50
Issue 4
Pages 2240-2257
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkab606
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7684294
Publisher URL https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/50/4/2240/6324614

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