gene expression in eukaryotes requires the excision of introns from pre-mrNas by splicing, which eliminates intervening sequences that interrupt the translation open-reading frame in mrNas. the spliceosome—a complex of small rNas and proteins—recognizes and acts on sequences at the exon–intron junctions—5'-splice site [SS] and 3'-SS—and at the branchpoint (Fig 1). Splicing is traditionally cons...

The well established phenomenon of ribosome drop-off plays crucial roles in translational accuracy and nutrient starvation responses during protein translation. When cells are under stress conditions, such as amino acid starvation or aminoacyl-tRNA depletion due to a high level of recombinant protein expression, ribosome drop-off can substantially affect the efficiency of protein expression. He...

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay is the process by which mRNAs bearing premature stop codons are recognized and cleared from the cell. While considerable information has accumulated regarding recognition of the premature stop codon, less is known about the ensuing mRNA suppression. During the characterization of a second, distinct translational surveillance pathway (nonstop mRNA decay), we trapped ...

The phosphoinositide 3-kinase related kinases (PIKKs) mediate responses to diverse stresses, including DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), abnormal replication fork progression, the recognition of premature termination codons in mRNAs, and inadequate nutrient availability. Rigorous control of these kinases limits cellular damage and promotes cell viability in the presence of stress. Control mechan...

The genetic code can be interpreted during translation as 21 amino acids and three termination signals. Recent advances at the interface of chemistry and molecular biology are extending the genetic code to allow assignment of new amino acids to existing codons, providing new functional groups for protein synthesis.

NMD (nonsense-mediated mRNA decay) is a cellular quality-control mechanism in which an otherwise stable mRNA is destabilized by the presence of a premature termination codon. We have defined the set of endogenous NMD substrates, demonstrated that they are available for NMD at every round of translation, and showed that premature termination and normal termination are not equivalent biochemical ...

Protein production is controlled by ribosome binding to the messenger RNA (mRNA), quantified in part by the binding affinity between the ribosome and the ribosome binding sequence on the mRNA. Using the E. coli lac operon as model, Ringquist et al. (1992) found a more than 1,000-fold difference in protein yield when varying the Shine-Dalgarno sequence and its distance to the translation start s...

The presence in the mRNA of premature stop codons (PTCs) results in protein truncation responsible for several inherited (genetic) diseases. A well-known example of these diseases is cystic fibrosis (CF), where approximately 10% (worldwide) of patients have nonsense mutations in the CF transmembrane regulator (CFTR) gene. PTC124 (3-(5-(2-fluorophenyl)-1,2,4-oxadiazol-3-yl)-benzoic acid), also k...

Translation termination is the final step that completes the synthesis of a polypeptide. Premature translation termination by introduction of a nonsense mutation leads to the synthesis of a truncated protein. We report the identification and characterization of the product of the MTT1 gene, a helicase belonging to the Upfl-like family of helicases that is involved in modulating translation term...

Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis use different mechanisms of sensing and responding to tryptophan and uncharged tRNA(Trp) as regulatory signals. In E. coli, tryptophan activates a repressor that binds to the trp promoter- operator, inhibiting transcription initiation. In B. subtilis, tryptophan activates an RNA-binding protein, TRAP, which binds to the trp operon leader RNA, causing trans...