Genome-Wide Translational Profiling
(A) Polysome profile showing the absorbance of RNA separated by density on a sucrose gradient, reflecting the number of associated ribosomes. The peaks of the profile are labeled for the small and large ribosomal subunits (40S and 60S), the monosome (80S), and the numbers of associated ribosomes for polysomal RNA (2 to >8). RNA from 12 fractions equally spaced throughout the profile (bottom) was labeled and hybridized against a total RNA reference on microarrays containing all S. pombe genes.
(B) Translation profiles for selected transcripts obtained by microarray analysis, showing the relative RNA amounts for a given transcript contained in each of the 12 fractions. Fractions associated with ribosomes are indicated. Different transcripts are color coded, and polysome profiles from three independent biological repeats are shown for rrk1 (RNase P K-RNA), rpl4101 (encoding ribosomal protein), htb1 (encoding histone H2B), and fba1 (encoding fructose-biphosphate aldolase).
(C) Average translation profiles for selected groups of RNAs, plotted as in (B) for one experiment. All mRNAs, the 3505 high-confidence mRNAs with complete profiles in this experiment; Introns, 11 long introns included on the microarray; and Translation, 62 mRNAs associated with the GO terms “translational intiation,” “translational elongation,” or “translational termination.”