Requirements for translation re-initiation in Escherichia coli: roles of initiator tRNA and initiation factors IF2 and IF3.

ABSTRACT: Despite its importance in post-transcriptional regulation of polycistronic operons in Escherichia coli, little is known about the mechanism of translation re-initiation, which occurs when the same ribosome used to translate an upstream open reading frame (ORF) also translates a downstream ORF. To investigate translation re-initiation in Escherichia coli, we constructed a di-cistronic reporter in which a firefly luciferase gene was linked to a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene using a segment of the translationally coupled geneV-geneVII intercistronic region from M13 phage. With this reporter and mutant initiator tRNAs, we show that two of the unique properties of E. coli initiator tRNA - formylation of the amino acid attached to the tRNA and binding of the tRNA to the ribosomal P-site

SUBMITTER: Yoo JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2268962 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature