5'-Terminal AUGs in Escherichia coli mRNAs with Shine-Dalgarno Sequences: Identification and Analysis of Their Roles in Non-Canonical Translation Initiation.

ABSTRACT: Analysis of the Escherichia coli transcriptome identified a unique subset of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) that contain a conventional untranslated leader and Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence upstream of the gene's start codon while also containing an AUG triplet at the mRNA's 5'- terminus (5'-uAUG). Fusion of the coding sequence specified by the 5'-terminal putative AUG start codon to a lacZ reporter gene, as well as primer extension inhibition assays, reveal that the majority of the 5'-terminal upstream open reading frames (5'-uORFs) tested support some level of lacZ translation, indicating that these mRNAs can function both as leaderless and canonical SD-leadered mRNAs. Although some of the uORFs were expressed at low levels, others were expressed at levels close to that of the respective downstre

SUBMITTER: Beck HJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4965119 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature