bims-micpro Biomed News
on Discovery and characterization of microproteins
Issue of 2021‒09‒26
two papers selected by
Thomas Martinez
Salk Institute for Biological Studies


  1. Genomics Proteomics Bioinformatics. 2021 Sep 15. pii: S1672-0229(21)00180-7. [Epub ahead of print]
      Small proteins specifically refer to proteins consisting of less than 100 amino acids translated from small open reading frames (sORFs), which were usually missed in previous genome annotation. The significance of small proteins has been revealed in current years, along with the discovery of their diverse functions. However, systematic annotation of small proteins is still insufficient. SmProt was specially developed to provide valuable information on small proteins for scientific community. Here we present the update of SmProt, which emphasizes reliability of translated sORFs, genetic variants in translated sORFs, disease-specific sORF translation events or sequences, and remarkably increased data volume. More components such as non-ATG translation initiation, function, and new sources are also included. SmProt incorporated 638,958 unique small proteins curated from 3,165,229 primary records, which were computationally predicted from 419 ribosome profiling (Ribo-seq) datasets or collected from literature and other sources from 370 cell lines or tissues in 8 species (Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Rattus norvegicus, Drosophila melanogaster, Danio rerio, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, and Escherichia coli). In addition, small protein families identified from human microbiomes were also collected. All datasets in SmProt are free to access, and available for browse, search, and bulk downloads at http://bigdata.ibp.ac.cn/SmProt/.
    Keywords:  Disease; Ribosome profiling; Small open reading frame; Upstream open reading frame; Variants
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gpb.2021.09.002
  2. Mol Cell. 2021 Sep 15. pii: S1097-2765(21)00713-9. [Epub ahead of print]
      Initiation is the rate-limiting step in translation, and its dysregulation is vital for carcinogenesis, including hematopoietic malignancy. Thus, discovery of novel translation initiation regulators may provide promising therapeutic targets. Here, combining Ribo-seq, mass spectrometry, and RNA-seq datasets, we discovered an oncomicropeptide, APPLE (a peptide located in ER), encoded by a non-coding RNA transcript in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). APPLE is overexpressed in various subtypes of AML and confers a poor prognosis. The micropeptide is enriched in ribosomes and regulates the initiation step to enhance translation and to maintain high rates of oncoprotein synthesis. Mechanically, APPLE promotes PABPC1-eIF4G interaction and facilitates mRNA circularization and eIF4F initiation complex assembly to support a specific pro-cancer translation program. Targeting APPLE exhibited broad anti-cancer effects in vitro and in vivo. This study not only reports a previously unknown function of micropeptides but also provides new opportunities for targeting the translation machinery in cancer cells.
    Keywords:  Micropeptide; PABPC1; cancer development; eIF4F complex assembly; eIF4G; leukemia; mRNA circularization; non-coding RNA (ncRNA); small open reading frame (ORF); translation initiation
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2021.08.033