Figure 8. Model depicting how impaired 40S recycling, increased eIF2α phosphorylation, or 40S subunit depletion results in reprogramming of TEs by decreasing 43S PIC assembly.

Reducing assembly of 43S PICs in any of three different ways, (i) impairing recycling of 40S post-TerCs by the tma∆∆ mutations, (ii) inducing phosphorylation of eIF2α by SM treatment of WT cells, or (iii) decreasing 40S subunit levels by depleting Rps26, skews the competition between inherently ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ mRNAs to favor translation of the ‘strong’ mRNAs, which have higher TEs in WT cells and tend to have shorter, less-structured 5’UTRs and shorter CDSs, compared to ‘weak’ mRNAs.