Only recently has the ribosome - one of the oldest molecular machines in evolutionary terms - been recognized as an active regulator of gene expression at the level of protein biosynthesis. This is an important process for the development and function of cells, in which genetic information is converted into proteins. The final step, in which the information encoded on the messenger RNA (mRNA) is transferred, is known as translation. The "Immunobiochemistry" research group led by Prof. Kathrin Leppek at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology (IKCKP) at the UKB is investigating the control of translation using the direct interaction of the ribosome with mRNAs. "As the central translation machinery that is essential for all life, the ribosome and the factors associated with it, such as proteins or RNA structures, are the focus of our research interest," says Prof. Leppek, a member of the ImmunosSensation2 Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn. "There is increasing evidence that ribosome composition influences selective translation such that customized ribosomes preferentially bind and translate certain mRNAs."
Role of IRESes in gene expression
As an example of such structures, which play an important role in the initiation of translation and thus in the regulation of gene expression, the Bonn researchers have now investigated...