Translational Enhancement Conferred by the 3’ Untranslated Region of a Transcript Encoding a Group 6 Late Embryogenesis Abundant Protein

BATTAGLIA, MARINA E.; DINKOVA, TZVETANKA D.; MARTÍNEZ-SILVA, ANA VALERIA; COVARRUBIAS, ALEJANDRA A.; OLVERA-CARRILLO, YADIRA

ENVIRONMENTAL AND EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 2021 vol. 182

0098-8472

To assure an ef cient protein production under stress conditions, some transcripts are modulated at the trans- lational level. To better understand the control of protein production under stress, we analysed the enhancing effect of the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of the water de cit responsive gene PvLEA6 from Phaseolus vulgaris on the regulation of its expression. GUS activity and transcript loading on polysomes were analysed using Arabi- dopsis transgenic plants with constructs containing GUS open reading frame fused to wild type or mutated PvLEA6-3′UTR, driven by the PvLEA6 promoter, grown under optimal or stress conditions. The effect of the PvLEA6-3′UTR on gene transcription and transcript stability was discarded. We demonstrated that the PvLEA6- 3′UTR allows preferential polysome loading of the GUS reporter transcript under water de cit. The effect of this region on protein synthesis was also supported by in vitro translation data. Particular conserved motifs in this region responsible for translation stimulation were identi ed. Speci c interaction of the 3′UTR with cellular protein(s) was shown. Our data support a speci c role of PvLEA6-3′ UTR leading to ef cient protein synthesis and hence a competent response under water de cit and suggest the participation of mRNA binding proteins in translational enhancement of the PvLEA6 mRNA.