Systematic analysis of the contribution of c-myc mRNA constituents upon cap and IRES mediated translation

Fine tuning of c-MYC expression is critical for its action and is achieved by several regulatory mechanisms. The contribution of c-myc mRNA regulatory sequences on its translational control has been investigated individually. However, putative interactions have not been addressed so far. The effect of these interactions upon the translatability of monocistronic and bicistronic chimaeric mRNAs, carrying combinations of the c-myc mRNA 5'-untranlated region (UTR), 3'-UTR, and coding region instability element (CRD) was investigated on this study. The presence of the 5'-UTR induced an increase in translatability of 50%. The presence of the CRD element, when in frame, reduced translatability by approximately 50%, regardless of the expression levels of the wild type CRD-binding protein (CRD-BP/IMP1). Conversely, overexpression of a mutated CRD-BP/IMP1 (Y396F) further impeded translation of the chimaeric mRNAs carrying its cognate sequences. The presence of the c-myc 3'-UTR increased translatability by approximately 300% affecting both cap and c-myc internal ribosome entry site (IRES) mediated translation. In addition, 3'-UTR rescued the cap mediated translation in the presence of the polyadenylation inhibitor cordycepin. Furthermore, the 3'-UTR rescued cap mediated translation under metabolic stress conditions and this was enhanced in the absence of a long poly (A) tail.