Abstract
The eukaryotic initiation factor eIF3f is one of the subunits of the translation initiator complex eIF3 required for several steps in the initiation of mRNA translation. In skeletal muscle, recent studies have demonstrated that eIF3f overexpression in myotubes exerts a hypertrophic activity associated to an increase in protein synthesis. This thesis shed light on muscle eIF3f functions by (i) characterizing in vitro the antiproliferative activity of this factor in C2C12 myoblasts and the RNAs recruited by eIF3f on polysomal fractions in hypertrophied myotubes and (ii) generating mice strains inactivated for eIF3f (eIF3f KO mice) and overexpressing eIF3f specifically in muscle (eIF3f K5-10R transgenic mice) to study in vivo the impact of eIF3f modulation on the muscular mass homeostasis