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Genetics of Translation Initiation Factors in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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Translational Regulation of Gene Expression 2

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Abstract

The first genetic mutant affecting the translation initiation process of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was isolated almost 25 years ago as a temperature-sensitive mutant. But it was not until recent years that genetic analysis in yeast proved worthy as an effective approach to study the mechanism of eukaryotic translation. As a result of these recent genetic studies, yeast is now accepted as a eukaryotic organism with a similar mechanism for initiating translation as observed in mammalian cells. The similarities between the mammalian and yeast initiation processes, now well established, enables us to assess the mechanism of initiation by combining both biochemical and genetic data, a very powerful means to dissect the eukaryotic translation machinery. The ability to do genetics provides additional dimensions to the analysis of translation initiation. As discussed below, it affords direct selection for suppressor mutations in genes which encode factors. These suppressor genes help to define those factors that function at particular steps in the initiation pathway. This has always been one of the rate-limiting problems associated with the biochemical analysis of translation initiation, as the complexity of the process was not compatible, in many cases, with developing specific assays for factors at defined steps in the pathway. Genetic suppressor analysis can also be a very sensitive method for detecting factor function. It has the potential to define new factors that may not be realizable by biochemical approaches, especially if these factors are not abundant proteins.

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  1. Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 47405, USA

    Lan Feng & Thomas F. Donahue

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  1. Lan Feng
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  2. Thomas F. Donahue
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  1. Institute of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, USA

    Joseph Ilan

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Feng, L., Donahue, T.F. (1993). Genetics of Translation Initiation Factors in Saccharomyces cerevisiae . In: Ilan, J. (eds) Translational Regulation of Gene Expression 2. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2894-4_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2894-4_4

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