Toward a Kinetic Understanding of Eukaryotic Translation

The eukaryotic translation pathway has been studied for more than four decades, but the molecular mechanisms that regulate each stage of the pathway are not completely defined. This is in part because we have very little understanding of the kinetic framework for the assembly and disassembly of pathway intermediates. Steps of the pathway are thought to occur in the subsecond to second time frame, but most assays to monitor these events require minutes to hours to complete. Understanding translational control in sufficient detail will therefore require the development of assays that can precisely monitor the kinetics of the translation pathway in real time. Here, we describe the translation pathway from the perspective of its kinetic parameters, discuss advances that are helping us move toward the goal of a rigorous kinetic understanding, and highlight some of the challenges that remain.