微生物小开放阅读框：小蛋白及翻译调控研究进展

Progress in small open reading frames (sORFs) in microorganisms: small proteins and translational regulation

摘要:

小开放阅读框(small open reading frame,sORF)广泛存在于不同生物基因组中，由于其序列短，以及编码的产物小蛋白(small protein，或称微蛋白；microprotein或迷你蛋白miniprotein)检测困难等原因，小开放阅读框长期未得到充分注释和研究。近年来，随着高通量测序、翻译组和质谱分析等技术的不断发展，在不同生物中发现大量新的小开放阅读框，其编码的小蛋白及介导的翻译调控已应用于药物开发及植物抗病机理等研究。但是，目前对微生物的小开放阅读框相关研究和应用还相对有限。本文综述了小开放阅读框编码产物小蛋白的发现和鉴定，以及上游开放阅读框(upstream open reading frame,uORF)对mRNA翻译调控等最新研究进展，重点介绍了微生物基因组中小开放阅读框的鉴定和功能研究进展，为深入认识微生物中小开放阅读框的功能和作用机制，以及植物和动物等高等其他生物的小蛋白和翻译调控相关研究提供参考。

Abstract:

Small open reading frames (sORFs) are ubiquitous in the genomes of living organisms, which are generally not fully annotated and studied due to their short length and difficulty in detection of their encoded small proteins (also termed microproteins or miniproteins). With the advancement of high-throughput sequencing, translatomics and mass spectrometry, increasing sORFs have been identified in different living organisms. At the same time, specific bioinformatic tools have also contribute to the mining of sORFs. Small proteins encoded by sORFs as well as translational regulation mediated by sORFs have been applied in medicinal development and exploration of mechanisms underlying plant disease resistance. However, the studies and applications of sORFs in microorganisms remain limited. This review summarizes the latest progress in the identification of small proteins encoded by sORFs, the annotation of upstream open reading frames (uORFs), as well as uORF-mediated regulation on mRNA translation. In particular, we reviewed the identification and functional analysis of sORFs in microbial genomes, especially budding yeast and filamentous fungi. This review provides a basis for understanding the function and mechanism of sORFs, as well as studies on microproteins and translation regulation in other organisms including plans and animals.