Translational regulation and light signal transduction in plants: the link between eIF3 and the COP9 signalosome
Authors: Chamovitz Daniel , Von Arnim Albrecht 
Published: March 2022

The COP9 signalosome (CSN) is an eight-subunit protein complex that is highly conserved among eukaryotes. Genetic analysis of the signalosome in the plant model species Arabidopsis thaliana has shown that the signalosome is a repressor of light dependent seedling development as mutant Arabidopsis seedlings that lack this complex develop in complete darkness as if exposed to light. These mutant plants die following the seedling stage, even when exposed to light, indicating that the COP9 signalosome also has a central role in the regulation of normal photomorphogenic development. The biochemical mode of action of the signalosome and its position in eukaryotic cell signaling pathways is a matter of controversy and ongoing investigation, and recent results place the CSN at the juncture of kinase signaling pathways and ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation. We have shown that one of the many CSN functions may relate to the regulation of translation through the interaction of the CSN with its related complex, eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF3). While we have established a physical connection between eIF3 subunits and CSN subunits, the physiological and developmental significance of this interaction is still unknown. In an effort to understand the biochemical activity of the signalosome, and its role in regulating translation, we originally proposed to dissect the contribution of "h" subunit of eIF3 (eIF3h) along the following specific aims: (i) Isolation and phenotypic characterization of an Arabidopsis loss-of-function allele for eIF3h from insertional mutagenesis libraries; (ii) Creation of designed gain and loss of function alleles for eIF3h on the basis of its nucleocytoplasmic distribution and its yeast-two-hybrid interactions with other eIF3 and signalosome partner proteins; (iii) Determining the contribution of eIF3h and its interaction with the signalosome by expressing specific mutants of eIF3h in the eIF3h- loss-of function background. During the course of the research, these goals were modified to include examining the genetic interaction between csn and eif3h mutations. More importantly, we extended our effort toward the genetic analysis of mutations in the eIF3e subunit, which also interacts with the CSN. Through the course of this research program we have made several critical scientific discoveries, all concerned with the apparent diametrically opposed roles of eIF3h and eIF3e. We showed that: 1) While eIF3e is essential for growth and development, eIF3h is not essential for growth or basal translation; 2) While eIF3e has a negative role in translational regulation, eIF3h is positively required for efficient translation of transcripts with complex 5' UTR sequences; 3) Over-accumulation of eIF3e and loss-of-function of eIF3h both lead to cop phenotypes in dark-grown seedlings. These results were published in one publication (Kim et al., Plant Cell 2004) and in a second manuscript currently in revision for Embo J. Are results have led to a paradigm shift in translation research – eIF3 is now viewed in all systems as a dynamic entity that contains regulatory subuits that affect translational efficiency. In the long-term agronomic outlook, the proposed research has implications that may be far reaching. Many important plant processes, including developmental and physiological responses to light, abiotic stress, photosynthate, and hormones operate in part by modulating protein translation [23, 24, 40, 75]. Translational regulation is slowly coming of age as a mechanism for regulating foreign gene expression in plants, beginning with translational enhancers [84, 85] and more recently, coordinating the expression of multiple transgenes using internal ribosome entry sites. Our contribution to understanding the molecular mode of action of a protein complex as fundamental as eIF3 is likely to lead to advances that will be applicable in the foreseeable future.