A coordinated codon-dependent regulation of translation by Elongator

More than a decade ago, the purification of the form of the RNA polymerase II (PolII) engaged in elongation led to the discovery of an associated, multi-subunit (Elp1-6) complex named Elongator by the Svejstrup lab. Although further evidence supported the original notion that Elongator is involved in transcription, Elongator lacked some of the expected features for a regulator of the elongating PolII. The discovery by the Bystrom lab, based on genetic dissection, that Elongator is pivotal for tRNA modifications, and that all the reported phenotypes of Elongator mutants are suppressed by the overexpression of two tRNAs added to the confusion. The increasing range of both potential substrates and biological processes regulated by Elongator in higher eukaryotes indicates that the major challenge of the field is to determine the biologically relevant function of Elongator. Our recent proteome-wide study in fission yeast supports a coordinated codon-dependent regulation of translation by Elongator. Here we provide additional analyses extending this hypothesis to budding yeast and worm.