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The staff of the MSU Research and Educational School "Molecular Technologies of Living Systems and Synthetic Biology" collected data on localized protein biosynthesis in eukaryotic cells. The study will help to understand, among other things, the formation of special intracellular structures — “virus factories”.

The researchers of the Belozersky Research Institute of the Moscow State University have published a review in which they have reviewed the current ideas about the intracellular localization of cellular and viral mRNAs( matrix RNAs), about the molecular mechanisms of protein biosynthesis in different cell compartments, and about the features of its regulation. Special attention was paid to modern methods of systems biology, the appearance of which gave a new impetus to the study of localized translation.

The spatial organization of protein biosynthesis in the eukaryotic cell has been studied for more than 50 years, and many facts have already been included in textbooks. Thus, according to classical concepts, mRNAs of secreted and membrane proteins are translated by ribosomes associated with the membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum (intracellular organoid of the eukaryotic cell), while soluble cytoplasmic proteins are synthesized on free polysomes. However, in recent years, many new data have appeared on the selective translation of mRNA also on mitochondria and other membrane organelles, in various granules and on elements of the cytoskeleton; periodically, disputes about the possibility of protein synthesis in the nucleus are renewed.

"Localized translation can be determined both by addressing signals in the synthesized protein product, and by nucleotide sequences in the mRNA itself, and sometimes both. Thanks to RNA-binding proteins, many transcripts combine into specific RNA condensates and form RNP particles that can be transported through the elements of the cytoskeleton to the translation site, form granules and provoke phase transitions of cytoplasmic regions-both under normal conditions and under cellular stress. Translation of some mRNAs takes place in specialized "translation factories", assemblisomes, transperons, and other structures necessary for the proper folding of proteins, interaction with functional partners, and the formation of oligomeric complexes," comments Ksenia Lashkevich, a co — author of the review, and a junior researcher at the Belozersky Research Institute of the Moscow State University.

The intracellular localization of mRNA and the translational apparatus has a significant effect on the efficiency of protein product synthesis and, possibly, determines the nature of the translational response to stress. This phenomenon plays an even greater role in viral infections. Many viruses provoke the formation of special intracellular structures — "virus factories" - which can be used, among other things, for the production of viral proteins.

Sergey Dmitriev, Head of the Department of Virus-Cell Interaction at the Belozersky Research Institute of Chemical Biology, Associate Professor at the Moscow State University, added: "This review was written as part of the Expansion program launched the year before last by the RFBR Foundation. It is aimed at attracting leading experts to write reviews in domestic scientific journals. Now there is a lot of talk about how to raise their ratings and visibility in the international scientific community. I think such a specialized grant program is the right way to go. In our review, we have collected comprehensive information on a very relevant topic and are sure that it will interest both our compatriots and colleagues abroad. We have reviewed 333 literary sources, many of these articles have just been published, and some works are still at the preprint stage. The English version of our review is currently out, and the original article in Russian will appear in August."

The review is published in the journal "Molecular Biology" and is supported by the RFBR grant "Expansion" No. 19-14-50309 – a special program aimed at increasing the rating of Russian scientific journals with the help of reviews written by leading scientists.

Source: MSU Press Service, sci-dig.ru