Posttranscriptional Control of Gene Expression
Copper Mountain, Colorado
July 16 - July 21, 2000
| Conference Chairman | Bob Simons - University of California, Los Angeles |
| Conference Vice Chairman | Stan Cohen - Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto |
| Organizing Committee | Lynne Maquat - Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo John McCarthy - University of Manchester Yoshi Nakamura - University of Tokyo |
Overview
| Transcription of a DNA sequence into mRNA completes only one component of gene expression. What happens to the mRNA posttranscriptionally is of major importance in genetic regulation, and it has been increasingly recognized that posttranscriptional control is carried out at multiple levels. Some mechanisms for controlling gene expression posttranscriptionally have been extensively studied, including the factors that regulate RNA splicing. Other aspects of posttranslational control, such as the modulation of translation and RNA decay, have received less but growing attention. What is clearly an unmet need, in an underdeveloped area whose importance is just now becoming recognized, is an understanding of the complex mechanisms that operate at the interface between RNA decay and RNA translation. This is the subject of the FASEB meeting. During and after the synthesis of RNA molecules, key processes determine whether these molecules will be degraded or translated. Since all RNA molecules are eventually subject to decay, translation necessitates postponement of degradation, and these two processes can be viewed as competitive. However, recent evidence, obtained from both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, shows that these two processes are often highly coordinated, through a number of intriguing mechanisms. Without doubt, these individual processes are complex. Translation is a complicated, multistep process, subject to many regulatory and physiological effects. While most of the core elements of translation are essentially identical in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, striking and informative differences abound. Similarly, whereas RNA decay is often accomplished by different means in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, in both cases there are common RNA structural elements, and functionally analogous multicomponent RNA/protein complexes such as the "degradeosome" and "exosome," all involved in RNA processing and decay. Understanding how these two complex processes are coordinated is an important question. Of particular interest are the events taking place at or near RNA termini. These include the initiation and termination of translation, and the initiation or impediment of RNA decay. Key RNA sequences and structures at the termini, and the proteins that interact with them, are the primary determinants of posttranscriptional control. These determinants are themselves complex, and include 3'-polyadenylation, 5'-capping, initiation and termination factors, tRNAs, regulatory binding proteins and ribonucleases, and so forth. Importantly, it is now appreciated that communication between the ends of an RNA molecule is an additional determinant of both translation and decay, and one that coordinates these two processes. Moreover, this communication and coordination involves the primary determinants operating at RNA termini. The meeting is organized along the follows topics: (1) an introductory overview of the primary determinants of RNA/protein interactions in the processes of translation and decay, presented by key experts in these areas, (2) the enzymes and multicomponent "machines" that process and degrade RNA, (3) the mechanisms and pathways of mRNA decay and their regulation, (4) an overview and comparison of translation initiation in diverse cells, and the influence of the translational decoding process on mRNA decay, (5) the key mechanisms by which translation initiation is regulated, (6) the special involvement of 3'-polyadenylation in both translation initiation and the control of RNA decay, and (7) an in depth analysis of the diverse mechanisms by which transcription, translation and mRNA decay are coupled and coordinated in different cells. |
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