Unidirectional gene pairs in archaea and bacteria require overlaps or very short intergenic distances for translational coupling via termination-reinitiation and often encode subunits of heteromeric complexes.

ABSTRACT: Genomes of bacteria and archaea contain a much larger fraction of unidirectional (serial) gene pairs than convergent or divergent gene pairs. Many of the unidirectional gene pairs have short overlaps of -4 nt and -1 nt. As shown previously, translation of the genes in overlapping unidirectional gene pairs is tightly coupled. Two alternative models for the fate of the post-termination ribosome predict either that overlaps or very short intergenic distances are essential for translational coupling or that the undissociated post-termination ribosome can scan through long intergenic regions, up to hundreds of nucleotides. We aimed to experimentally resolve the contradiction between the two models by analyzing three native gene pairs from the model archaeon Haloferax volcanii and three n

SUBMITTER: Huber M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10666635 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature