Senior Fellow in Experimental Neurobiology
mauro@nsi.edu

Gene expression underlies all cellular properties and is the process whereby the genetic information encoded in the DNA is transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA) which is then translated into protein. For many genes, mRNA levels are poorly correlated with protein synthesis because of mechanisms affecting translation. Our laboratory studies this fundamental process of protein synthesis by investigating how mRNAs recruit ribosomes, which are the translation machinery of the cell, and initiate translation. In eukaryotes, translation initiates following recruitment of the translation machinery by the mRNA. This recruitment can be facilitated either by a cap-structure found at the 5' ends of mRNAs or by an internal mRNA sequence. In our earlier studies we found that such internal ribosome entry sites (IRESes) could be less than 10-nucleotides in length. We also observed that some of these mRNA- elements were complementary to segments of the 18S ribosomal RNA, which is the RNA component of the small (40S) ribosomal subunit. More recently, our studies showed that some mRNA elements recruit 40S ribosomal subunits directly, by base-pairing to them. Although such base-pairing between mRNA and ribosomal RNA is used by prokaryotic mRNAs to initiate translation, our studies demonstrated that eukaryotic mRNAs can also use this mechanism. Our present studies are focused on understanding how ribosomes move from the site of recruitment on the mRNA to the initiation codon and the mechanism by a specific AUG codon is recognized as the initiation codon.

Education:

• B.Sc., Brock University, Ontario, Canada
• Ph.D., McGill University, Quebec, Canada
• Postdoctoral Fellow, The Rockefeller University, New York

Selected Publications:

Dresios, J., S.A. Chappell, W. Zhou and V.P. Mauro. 2006. An mRNA-rRNA base-pairing mechanism for translation initiation in eukaryotes. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 13:30-34.

Zhou, W., G.M. Edelman and V.P. Mauro. 2005. A positive feedback vector for identification of nucleotide sequences that enhance translation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 102:6273-6278.

Chappell, S.A., G.M. Edelman and V.P. Mauro. 2004. Biochemical and Functional analysis of a 9-nucleotide RNA sequence that affects translation efficiency in eukaryotic cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.:9590-9594.

Rogers, G.W., Jr., G.M. Edelman and V.P. Mauro. 2004. Differential utilization of upstream AUGs in the beta-secretase mRNA suggests that a shunting mechanism regulates translation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101:2794-2799.

Mauro, V.P. and G.M. Edelman. 2002. The ribosome filter hypothesis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99:12031-12036.

<< Go back to Scientific Staff