mRNA sequence features that contribute to translational regulation in Arabidopsis

DNA microarrays were used to evaluate the regulation of the proportion of individual mRNA species in polysomal complexes in leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana under control growth conditions and following a mild dehydration stress (DS). The analysis determined that the percentage of an individual gene transcript in polysomes (ribosome loading) ranged from over 95 to <5%. DS caused a decrease in ribosome loading from 82 to 72%, with maintained polysome association for over 60% of the mRNAs with an increased abundance. To identify sequence features responsible for translational regulation, ribosome loading values and features of full-length mRNA sequences were compared. mRNAs with extreme length or high GU content in the 5′-untranslated regions (5′-UTRs) were generally poorly translated. Under DS, mRNAs with both a high GC content in the 5′-UTR and long open reading frame showed a significant impairment in ribosome loading. Evaluation of initiation A(+1)UG codon context revealed distinctions in the frequency of adenine in nucleotides −10 to −1 (especially at −4 and −3) in mRNAs with different ribosome loading values. Notably, the mRNA features that contribute to translational regulation could not fully explain the variation in ribosome loading, indicating that additional factors contribute to translational regulation in Arabidopsis.