A GG nucleotide sequence of the 3' untranslated region of amyloid precursor protein mRNA plays a key role in the regulation of translation and the binding of proteins.

The alternative polyadenylation of the mRNA encoding the amyloid precursor protein (APP) involved in Alzheimer's disease generates two molecules, with the first of these containing 258 additional nucleotides in the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR). We have previously shown that these 258 nucleotides increase the translation of APP mRNA injected in Xenopus oocytes (5). Here, we demonstrate that this mechanism occurs in CHO cells as well. We also present evidence that the 3'UTR containing 8 nucleotides more than the short 3'UTR allows the recovery of an efficiency of translation similar to that of the long 3'UTR. Moreover, the two guanine residues located at the 3' ends of these 8 nucleotides play a key role in the translational control. Using gel retardation mobility shift assay, we show that proteins from Xenopus oocytes, CHO cells, and human brain specifically bind to the short 3'UTR but not to the long one. The two guanine residues involved in the translational control inhibit this specific binding by 65%. These results indicate that there is a correlation between the binding of proteins to the 3'UTR of APP mRNA and the efficiency of mRNA translation, and that a GG motif controls both binding of proteins and translation.