Upregulation of 5'-terminal oligopyrimidine mRNA translation upon loss of the tumor suppressor ARF

Tumor cells require nominal increases in protein synthesis in order to maintain high proliferation rates. As such, tumor cells must acquire enhanced ribosome production. How many of the mutations in tumor cells ultimately achieve this aberrant production is largely unknown. The gene encoding ARF is the most commonly deleted gene in human cancer. ARF plays a significant role in regulating ribosomal RNA synthesis and processing, ribosome export into the cytoplasm, and global protein synthesis. Utilizing ribosome profiling, we show that 5'-terminal oligopyrimidine mRNA translation is upregulated following loss of ARF. Genes with increased translational efficiency following loss of ARF include many ribosomal proteins and translation factors. Knockout of p53 largely phenocopies ARF loss, with increased protein synthesis and expression of 5'-TOP encoded proteins. The 5'-TOP regulators eIF4G1 and LARP1 are upregulated in ARF and p53 null cells. Overall design: RNAseq and Ribosome profiling for three conditions with two replicates for each.