IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pgen00/1005206.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Accounting for Experimental Noise Reveals That mRNA Levels, Amplified by Post-Transcriptional Processes, Largely Determine Steady-State Protein Levels in Yeast

Author

Listed:
  • Gábor Csárdi
  • Alexander Franks
  • David S Choi
  • Edoardo M Airoldi
  • D Allan Drummond

Abstract

Cells respond to their environment by modulating protein levels through mRNA transcription and post-transcriptional control. Modest observed correlations between global steady-state mRNA and protein measurements have been interpreted as evidence that mRNA levels determine roughly 40% of the variation in protein levels, indicating dominant post-transcriptional effects. However, the techniques underlying these conclusions, such as correlation and regression, yield biased results when data are noisy, missing systematically, and collinear---properties of mRNA and protein measurements---which motivated us to revisit this subject. Noise-robust analyses of 24 studies of budding yeast reveal that mRNA levels explain more than 85% of the variation in steady-state protein levels. Protein levels are not proportional to mRNA levels, but rise much more rapidly. Regulation of translation suffices to explain this nonlinear effect, revealing post-transcriptional amplification of, rather than competition with, transcriptional signals. These results substantially revise widely credited models of protein-level regulation, and introduce multiple noise-aware approaches essential for proper analysis of many biological phenomena.Author Summary: Cells respond to their environment by making proteins using transcription and translation of mRNA. Modest observed correlations between global steady-state mRNA and protein measurements have been interpreted as evidence that mRNA levels determine roughly 40% of the variation in protein levels, indicating dominant post-transcriptional effects. However, the techniques underlying these conclusions, such as correlation and regression, yield biased results when data are noisy and contain missing values. Here we show that when methods that account for noise are used to analyze much of the same data, mRNA levels explain more than 85% of the variation in steady-state protein levels. Protein levels are not proportional to mRNA levels as commonly assumed, but rise much more rapidly. Regulation of translation achieves amplification of, rather than competition with, transcriptional signals. Our results suggest that for this set of conditions, mRNA sets protein-level regulation, and introduce multiple noise-aware approaches essential for proper analysis of many biological phenomena.

Suggested Citation

  • Gábor Csárdi & Alexander Franks & David S Choi & Edoardo M Airoldi & D Allan Drummond, 2015. "Accounting for Experimental Noise Reveals That mRNA Levels, Amplified by Post-Transcriptional Processes, Largely Determine Steady-State Protein Levels in Yeast," PLOS Genetics, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-32, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pgen00:1005206
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005206
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1005206
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1005206&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005206?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Björn Schwanhäusser & Dorothea Busse & Na Li & Gunnar Dittmar & Johannes Schuchhardt & Jana Wolf & Wei Chen & Matthias Selbach, 2011. "Global quantification of mammalian gene expression control," Nature, Nature, vol. 473(7347), pages 337-342, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rahayu Zulkapli & Mohd Yusmiaidil Putera Mohd Yusof & Suhaila Abd Muid & Seok Mui Wang & Al’Aina Yuhainis Firus Khan & Hapizah Nawawi, 2022. "A Systematic Review on Attenuation of PCSK9 in Relation to Atherogenesis Biomarkers Associated with Natural Products or Plant Bioactive Compounds in In Vitro Studies: A Critique on the Quality and Imp," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-49, October.
    2. Jianye Xia & Benjamin J. Sánchez & Yu Chen & Kate Campbell & Sergo Kasvandik & Jens Nielsen, 2022. "Proteome allocations change linearly with the specific growth rate of Saccharomyces cerevisiae under glucose limitation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ji Min Lee & Henrik M. Hammarén & Mikhail M. Savitski & Sung Hee Baek, 2023. "Control of protein stability by post-translational modifications," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Mohammad Soltani & Cesar A Vargas-Garcia & Duarte Antunes & Abhyudai Singh, 2016. "Intercellular Variability in Protein Levels from Stochastic Expression and Noisy Cell Cycle Processes," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-23, August.
    3. Jasjot Singh & Hadeer Elhabashy & Pathma Muthukottiappan & Markus Stepath & Martin Eisenacher & Oliver Kohlbacher & Volkmar Gieselmann & Dominic Winter, 2022. "Cross-linking of the endolysosomal system reveals potential flotillin structures and cargo," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, December.
    4. Yan Li & Chen Xu & Bing Wang & Fujiang Xu & Fahan Ma & Yuanyuan Qu & Dongxian Jiang & Kai Li & Jinwen Feng & Sha Tian & Xiaohui Wu & Yunzhi Wang & Yang Liu & Zhaoyu Qin & Yalan Liu & Jing Qin & Qi Son, 2022. "Proteomic characterization of gastric cancer response to chemotherapy and targeted therapy reveals potential therapeutic strategies," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-26, December.
    5. Kaslik, Eva & Rădulescu, Ileana Rodica, 2022. "Stability and bifurcations in fractional-order gene regulatory networks," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 421(C).
    6. Suran Kim & Sungjin Min & Yi Sun Choi & Sung-Hyun Jo & Jae Hun Jung & Kyusun Han & Jin Kim & Soohwan An & Yong Woo Ji & Yun-Gon Kim & Seung-Woo Cho, 2022. "Tissue extracellular matrix hydrogels as alternatives to Matrigel for culturing gastrointestinal organoids," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-21, December.
    7. Jingbo Qie & Yang Liu & Yunzhi Wang & Fan Zhang & Zhaoyu Qin & Sha Tian & Mingwei Liu & Kai Li & Wenhao Shi & Lei Song & Mingjun Sun & Yexin Tong & Ping Hu & Tao Gong & Xiaqiong Wang & Yi Huang & Bolo, 2022. "Integrated proteomic and transcriptomic landscape of macrophages in mouse tissues," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-23, December.
    8. Lingling Li & Dongxian Jiang & Qiao Zhang & Hui Liu & Fujiang Xu & Chunmei Guo & Zhaoyu Qin & Haixing Wang & Jinwen Feng & Yang Liu & Weijie Chen & Xue Zhang & Lin Bai & Sha Tian & Subei Tan & Chen Xu, 2023. "Integrative proteogenomic characterization of early esophageal cancer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-28, December.
    9. Thomas C. J. Tan & Van Kelly & Xiaoyan Zou & David Wright & Tony Ly & Rose Zamoyska, 2022. "Translation factor eIF5a is essential for IFNγ production and cell cycle regulation in primary CD8+ T lymphocytes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    10. Katharina Clemm von Hohenberg & Sandra Müller & Sibylle Schleich & Matthias Meister & Jonathan Bohlen & Thomas G. Hofmann & Aurelio A. Teleman, 2022. "Cyclin B/CDK1 and Cyclin A/CDK2 phosphorylate DENR to promote mitotic protein translation and faithful cell division," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    11. Jonathan J. Swietlik & Stefanie Bärthel & Chiara Falcomatà & Diana Fink & Ankit Sinha & Jingyuan Cheng & Stefan Ebner & Peter Landgraf & Daniela C. Dieterich & Henrik Daub & Dieter Saur & Felix Meissn, 2023. "Cell-selective proteomics segregates pancreatic cancer subtypes by extracellular proteins in tumors and circulation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    12. Ryosuke Ishimura & Afnan H. El-Gowily & Daisuke Noshiro & Satoko Komatsu-Hirota & Yasuko Ono & Mayumi Shindo & Tomohisa Hatta & Manabu Abe & Takefumi Uemura & Hyeon-Cheol Lee-Okada & Tarek M. Mohamed , 2022. "The UFM1 system regulates ER-phagy through the ufmylation of CYB5R3," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    13. Sajib Chakraborty & Hossain Uddin Shekhar, 2017. "Applications of Mass-Spectrometry Based Quantitative Proteomics to Understand Complex Cellular Functions and Cell Fate Decisions," Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, Biomedical Research Network+, LLC, vol. 1(1), pages 169-171, June.
    14. Sébastien Durand & Marion Bruelle & Fleur Bourdelais & Bigitha Bennychen & Juliana Blin-Gonthier & Caroline Isaac & Aurélia Huyghe & Sylvie Martel & Antoine Seyve & Christophe Vanbelle & Annie Adrait , 2023. "RSL24D1 sustains steady-state ribosome biogenesis and pluripotency translational programs in embryonic stem cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    15. Johan Kerkhofs & Liesbet Geris, 2015. "A Semiquantitative Framework for Gene Regulatory Networks: Increasing the Time and Quantitative Resolution of Boolean Networks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-23, June.
    16. Madison L. Doolittle & Dominik Saul & Japneet Kaur & Jennifer L. Rowsey & Stephanie J. Vos & Kevin D. Pavelko & Joshua N. Farr & David G. Monroe & Sundeep Khosla, 2023. "Multiparametric senescent cell phenotyping reveals targets of senolytic therapy in the aged murine skeleton," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-20, December.
    17. Rune B Jakobsen & Esben Østrup & Xiaolan Zhang & Tarjei S Mikkelsen & Jan E Brinchmann, 2014. "Analysis of the Effects of Five Factors Relevant to In Vitro Chondrogenesis of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Using Factorial Design and High Throughput mRNA-Profiling," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(5), pages 1-13, May.
    18. Beatrice T. Laudenbach & Karsten Krey & Quirin Emslander & Line Lykke Andersen & Alexander Reim & Pietro Scaturro & Sarah Mundigl & Christopher Dächert & Katrin Manske & Markus Moser & Janos Ludwig & , 2021. "NUDT2 initiates viral RNA degradation by removal of 5′-phosphates," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, December.
    19. McNutt Patrick & Hubbard Kyle & Beske Phil & Gut Ian, 2015. "A novel method to prioritize RNAseq data for post-hoc analysis based on absolute changes in transcript abundance," Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology, De Gruyter, vol. 14(3), pages 227-241, June.
    20. Michelle M. Kameda-Smith & Helen Zhu & En-Ching Luo & Yujin Suk & Agata Xella & Brian Yee & Chirayu Chokshi & Sansi Xing & Frederick Tan & Raymond G. Fox & Ashley A. Adile & David Bakhshinyan & Kevin , 2022. "Characterization of an RNA binding protein interactome reveals a context-specific post-transcriptional landscape of MYC-amplified medulloblastoma," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pgen00:1005206. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosgenetics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.