Ribosome profiling and RNA-Sequencing of wild type and Pelota knockout mouse epidermis. Mus musculus

mRNA quality control mechanisms ensure fidelity of protein translation. An evolutionarily conserved component of the quality control machinery, Dom34/Pelota (Pelo), rescues stalled ribosomes. Here we show that Pelo is required for mammalian epidermal homeostasis. Conditional deletion in murine epidermal stem cells expressing Lrig1 results in hyperproliferation and abnormal differentiation, whereas deletion in other stem cells does not. Loss of Pelo results in truncated ribosome footprints and global upregulation of translation. Translational inhibition by rapamycin-mediated down regulation of mTOR rescues the epidermal phenotype. Our study reveals a novel role for the ribosome-rescue machinery in mammalian tissue homeostasis and an unanticipated specificity in its impact on different stem cell populations. Overall design: Analysis of ribosome profiling and RNA sequencing data from primary mouse epidermis; manipulation by transgenic knockout of Pelota (PELO).