Frameshifting RNA pseudoknots: structure and mechanism.

ABSTRACT: Programmed ribosomal frameshifting (PRF) is one of the multiple translational recoding processes that fundamentally alters triplet decoding of the messenger RNA by the elongating ribosome. The ability of the ribosome to change translational reading frames in the -1 direction (-1 PRF) is employed by many positive strand RNA viruses, including economically important plant viruses and many human pathogens, such as retroviruses, e.g., HIV-1, and coronaviruses, e.g., the causative agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), in order to properly express their genomes. -1 PRF is programmed by a bipartite signal embedded in the mRNA and includes a heptanucleotide "slip site" over which the paused ribosome "backs up" by one nucleotide, and a downstream stimulatory element, either an RNA pseu

SUBMITTER: Giedroc DP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2670756 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature