QnAs with Alan G. Hinnebusch.

The central dogma of molecular biology states that information in DNA is transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA), which is in turn translated into proteins by structures called ribosomes. Lengths of mRNA strands vary, but all mRNAs use codons, sets of three nucleotide bases, to instruct the ribosome where to begin protein synthesis, what proteins to produce, and when to stop. Alan G. Hinnebusch, a molecular biologist at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and a recently elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, studies both transcription and translation in baker’s yeast. In his Inaugural Article (1), Hinnebusch and colleagues discovered how long mRNAs make up for some of their structural inefficiencies in translation. He recently spoke to PNAS about his findings.