A minimal element in 5′UTR of insulin mRNA mediates its translational regulation by glucose

Glucose induced translation of insulin in pancreatic beta cells is mediated by the 5′UTR of insulin mRNA. We determined the minimal sequence/structure in the 5′UTR of rat insulin gene1 for this regulation. We show that specific factors in the pancreatic islets bind to the 5′UTR of the insulin mRNA upon glucose stimulation. We identified a minimal 29-nucleotide element in the 5′UTR that is sufficient to form the complex, and confer glucose mediated translation activation. Conserved residues in the predicted stem loop region of the un-translated region (UTR) seem to be important for the complex formation and the translation regulation.