A spotlight on protein translation

Jeff Chao, Junior group leader at the FMI, together with colleagues in New York and Heidelberg, has developed a sophisticated technique that makes it possible to monitor the precise time and place of the first translation event within a cell. This novel method, known as TRICK, is described and initial results are reported in Science today. For the fate of a cell, it is crucial what proteins are produced, at what time and in what part of a cell. But what is curtly termed transcription and translation, - the copying of genetic information and subsequent protein synthesis - are controlled by thousands of different proteins. After transcription, the resulting messenger RNA (mRNA) has to be processed, exported out of the nucleus and transported to the right location within the cell before it can be translated. To date, however, detailed analysis of these processes has been hampered by the limitations of available methods. Jeff Chao, Junior group leader at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI), together with colleagues from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, has now developed a technique that makes the translation of individual mRNAs visible and quantifiable.