On the Way to Translatomic Mapping, a State-of-the-Art

The correlation between transcription levels (abundance of individual mRNAs) and translation (level of corresponding proteins in the proteome) is modest. This confirms that gene expression regulation at the translation stage is crucial. Given the significance of investigations into translationally active mRNA as an indicator of translation effectiveness, researchers require reliable and structured functional sources of information on translation, such as plant translatomic maps that resembling transcription maps. The establishment of a standardized experimental and computational approach is required to generate translatomic maps. In this article, we explore possibilities for researchers to generate translatomic maps for plants. We present a comprehensive overview of experimental methods used to obtain translationally active mRNA fractions, taking into account their advantages and limitations. In addition, we discuss methodological approaches that enable obtaining a complete mRNA pool, sequencing methods for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of various mRNA fractions, as well as bioinformatic methods for multivariate analysis and indicators for assessing mRNA translational activity. This manuscript calls for the scientific community to develop translatomic maps of plant objects as a means to increase the utilization of translatomic data in both fundamental plant biology and practical applications.