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Translational control by changes in poly(A) tail length: recycling mRNAs

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 19, pages 577–585 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Beyond the well-known function of poly(A) tail length in mRNA stability, recent years have witnessed an explosion of information about how changes in tail length and the selection of alternative polyadenylation sites contribute to the translational regulation of a large portion of the genome. The mechanisms and factors mediating nuclear and cytoplasmic changes in poly(A) tail length have been studied in great detail, the targets of these mechanisms have been identified—in some cases by genome-wide screenings—and changes in poly(A) tail length are now implicated in a number of physiological and pathological processes. However, in very few cases have all three levels—mechanisms, targets and functions—been studied together.

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Figure 1: Model for APA regulation.
Figure 2: Examples of cytoplasmic deadenylation.
Figure 3: Recycling of αCaMKII mRNA in neurons.
Figure 4: Recycling of maternal mRNAs in oocytes during meiosis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), Barcelona, Spain

    Laure Weill, Eulàlia Belloc, Felice-Alessio Bava & Raúl Méndez

  2. Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Pombeu Fabra University (UPF), Barcelona, Spain

    Felice-Alessio Bava

  3. Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain

    Raúl Méndez

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  1. Laure Weill
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  2. Eulàlia Belloc
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Correspondence to Raúl Méndez.

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Weill, L., Belloc, E., Bava, FA. et al. Translational control by changes in poly(A) tail length: recycling mRNAs. Nat Struct Mol Biol 19, 577–585 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.2311

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