Becker, K., Bluhm, A., Casas-Vila, N., Dinges, N., Dejung, M., Sayols, S., Kreutz, C., Roignant, J.Y., Butter, F., Legewie, S. (2018). Quantifying post-transcriptional regulation in the development of Drosophila melanogaster.  Nat. Commun. 9(1): 4970.

FBrf0240782

Research paper

Even though proteins are produced from mRNA, the correlation between mRNA levels and protein abundances is moderate in most studies, occasionally attributed to complex post-transcriptional regulation. To address this, we generate a paired transcriptome/proteome time course dataset with 14 time points during Drosophila embryogenesis. Despite a limited mRNA-protein correlation (ρ = 0.54), mathematical models describing protein translation and degradation explain 84% of protein time-courses based on the measured mRNA dynamics without assuming complex post transcriptional regulation, and allow for classification of most proteins into four distinct regulatory scenarios. By performing an in-depth characterization of the putatively post-transcriptionally regulated genes, we postulate that the RNA-binding protein Hrb98DE is involved in post-transcriptional control of sugar metabolism in early embryogenesis and partially validate this hypothesis using Hrb98DE knockdown. In summary, we present a systems biology framework for the identification of post-transcriptional gene regulation from large-scale, time-resolved transcriptome and proteome data.

PMC6255845 (PMC) (EuropePMC)