Abstract
Diversity is one of the most remarkable features of living organisms. Current assessments of eukaryote biodiversity reaches 1.5 million species, but the true figure could be several times that number. Diversity is ingrained in all stages and echelons of life, namely, the occupancy of ecological niches, behavioral patterns, body plans and organismal complexity, as well as metabolic needs and genetics. In this review, we will discuss that diversity also exists in a key biochemical process, translation, across eukaryotes. Translation is a fundamental process for all forms of life, and the basic components and mechanisms of translation in eukaryotes have been largely established upon the study of traditional, so-called model organisms. By using modern genome-wide, high-throughput technologies, recent studies of many nonmodel eukaryotes have unveiled a surprising diversity in the configuration of the translation apparatus across eukaryotes, showing that this apparatus is far from being evolutionarily static. For some of the components of this machinery, functional differences between different species have also been found. The recent research reviewed in this article highlights the molecular and functional diversification the translational machinery has undergone during eukaryotic evolution. A better understanding of all aspects of organismal diversity is key to a more profound knowledge of life.
Highlights
Diversity is one of the most remarkable features of living organisms
The aim of the initiation step is both to ensure the recruitment of the mRNA to the ribosome and the positioning the ribosome in the proper frame at the start codon, which is achieved in a set of steps mediated by eukaryotic initiation factors
The 43S preinitiation complex is recruited to the 5 end of the mRNA, a process that is coordinated by eIF4E through its interactions with eIF4G and the 40S ribosomal subunitassociated eIF3
Summary
Proteins are one of the elementary components of life and account for a large fraction of mass in the biosphere They catalyze most reactions that sustain life and play structural, transport, and regulatory roles in all living organisms. Many mechanisms to control gene expression at the translational level have evolved in eukaryotes [3]. It is performed by the ribosome together with multiple auxiliary “translation” factors (proteins) and is divided into four steps: initiation, elongation, termination, and recycling These basic processes of translation were established experimentally in eukaryotes some decades ago, and many regulatory mechanisms have been subsequently elucidated [13, 14]. There is evidence that even the genetic code itself has continued to evolve in some phyla These findings indicate that after eukaryotes emerged, the translational apparatus further evolved during eukaryotic diversification. We will review recent research revealing the diversification that the genetic code and many components of the translational machinery have undergone across eukaryotes
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