Long-term imaging of individual ribosomes reveals ribosome cooperativity in mRNA translation

The genetic information stored in mRNAs is decoded by ribosomes during mRNA translation. mRNAs are typically translated by multiple ribosomes simultaneously, but it is unclear whether and how the activity of different ribosomes on an mRNA is coordinated. Here, we develop an imaging approach based on stopless-ORF circular RNAs (socRNAs) to monitor translation of individual ribosomes in either monosomes or polysomes with very high resolution. Using experiments and simulations, we find that translating ribosomes frequently undergo transient collisions. However, unlike persistent collisions, such transient collisions escape detection by cellular quality control pathways. Rather, transient ribosome collisions promote productive translation by reducing ribosome pausing on problematic sequences, a process we term ribosome cooperativity. Ribosome cooperativity also reduces recycling of ribosomes by quality control pathways, thus enhancing processive translation. Together, our single-ribosome imaging approach reveals that ribosomes cooperate during translation to ensure fast and efficient translation.