Selective mRNA translation is an important phenomenon observed
during cell cycle progression and cell differentiation, and
its deregulation is widely observed in cancer development and
progression. Despite that importance, however, the mechanism of
selective mRNA translation is not yet fully understood. Recently,
it has been found that ribosomes themselves play an important
role in translational regulation. For example, a population of
ribosomes with a specific paralog of ribosomal protein exists
which can selectively control the translation of a localized mRNA
in yeast. In addition, the translation of several mRNAs decreases
when a ribosomal RNA modifying enzyme is mutated both in mouse
and in human. The goal of my research is to see if there is a
specific population of ribosomes that has high selectivity for
certain mRNAs related to cancer initiation and progression and
to understand the underlying mechanism of ribosomal selectivity.
