Ribosomal proteins (RPs) are mostly derived from the energy-consuming enzyme families such as ATP-dependent RNA helicases, AAA-ATPases, GTPases and kinases, and are important structural components of the ribosome, which is a supramolecular ribonucleoprotein complex, composed of Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and RPs, coordinates the translation and synthesis of proteins with the help of transfer RNA (tRNA) and other factors. Not all RPs are indispensable; in other words, the ribosome could be functional and could continue the translation of proteins instead of lacking in some of the RPs. However, the lack of many RPs could result in severe defects in the biogenesis of ribosomes, which could directly influence the overall translation processes and global expression of the proteins leading to the emergence of different diseases including cancer. While microRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs and one of the potent regulators of the post-transcriptional gene expression, miRNAs regulate gene expression by targeting the 3' untranslated region and/or coding region of the messenger RNAs (mRNAs), and by interacting with the 5' untranslated region, and eventually finetune the expression of approximately one-third of all mammalian genes. Herein, we highlighted the significance of miRNAs mediated regulation of RPs coding mRNAs in the global protein translation.
Keywords: Ribosomal proteins (RPs); microRNA (miRNA); protein synthesis; ribosomes; translation.