What determines whether mammalian ribosomes resume scanning after translation of a short upstream open reading frame?

Abstract

If the 5′-proximal AUG triplet in a mammalian mRNA is followed by a short open reading frame (sORF), a significant fraction of ribosomes resume scanning after termination of sORF translation, and reinitiate at a downstream AUG. To examine the underlying mechanism, we examined reinitiation in vitro using a series of mRNAs that differed only in the 5′-untranslated region (UTR). Efficient reinitiation was found to occur only if the eIF4F complex, or at a minimum the central one-third fragment of eIF4G, participated in the primary initiation event at the sORF initiation codon. It did not occur, however, when sORF translation was driven by the classical swine fever virus or cricket paralysis virus internal ribosome entry sites (IRESs), which do not use eIF4A, 4B, 4E, or 4G. A critical test was provided by an mRNA with an unstructured 5′-UTR, which is translated by scanning but does not absolutely need eIF4G and eIF4A: There was efficient reinitiation in a standard reticulocyte lysate, when initiation would be largely driven by eIF4F, but no reinitiation in an eIF4G-depleted lysate. These results suggest that resumption of scanning may depend on the interaction between eIF4F (or the eIF4G central domain) and the ribosome being maintained while the ribosome translates the sORF.