Estrogen-mediated regulation of gene expression via transcriptional and translational control: complementary, synergistic or opposing responses?

The central dogma of molecular biology states that genetic information flows from the DNA via transcription of genes into messenger RNAs which are subsequently translated into proteins. In reality, this flow is non-linear and multiple regulation levels exist. The hormone estrogen signals through its receptor to mediate both transcription in the nucleus and rapid signalling known to affect translation in the cytoplasm. It is currently unknown in which way the response to estrogen is orchestrated by integrating the translation of mRNAs with the transcription of target genes. We endeavour to investigate how estrogen signalling is integrated in the cell by carefully dissecting how mRNAs are transcribed and translated under its control.