The effect of the length of the 3'-untranslated region on expression in plants.

TitleThe effect of the length of the 3'-untranslated region on expression in plants.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1996
AuthorsTanguay, RL, Gallie, DR
JournalFEBS Lett
Volume394
Issue3
Pagination285-8
Date Published1996 Oct 07
ISSN0014-5793
KeywordsDaucus carota, Gene Expression, Genes, Reporter, Luciferases, Poly A, Protein Biosynthesis, RNA, Messenger
Abstract

The effect of increasing the length of the 3'-untranslated region (UTR) on expression of luciferase mRNA was examined in transiently transfected carrot protoplasts. The effect of the 3'-UTR on both poly(A)- and poly(A)+ mRNA was examined. A nested set of constructs in which the 3'-UTR increased from 4 to 104 bases was generated by the introduction and reiteration of a 20 base sequence downstream of the luc stop codon. For poly(A)- mRNA, there was a consistent increase in expression when the length of the 3'-UTR was increased from 4 to 104 bases. For poly(A)+ mRNA, expression increased 18-fold when the length of the 3'-UTR was increased from 7 to 27 bases. Further increases in the length of the 3'-UTR did not affect expression. The increase in expression was largely due to an increase in translational efficiency. These data suggest that the length of the 3'-UTR plays an important role in determining the extent to which a poly(A) tail can stimulate the translation of an mRNA.

Alternate JournalFEBS Lett.
PubMed ID8830659