The chloroplast infA gene with a functional UUG initiation codon

FEBS Letters

Hirose, Tetsuro¹  Wakasugi, Tatsuya²  Ideue, Takashi¹  Sugiura, Masahiro¹ 

[1] Center for Gene Research, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan;Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Toyama University, Toyama 936-8555, Japan

关键词: Chloroplast;    Initiation codon;    Initiation factor 1;    Chlorella vulgaris;    Translation;   

DOI  :  10.1016/S0014-5793(99)00123-4

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

All chloroplast genes reported so far possess ATG start codons and sometimes GTGs as an exception. Sequence alignments suggested that the chloroplast infA gene encoding initiation factor 1 in the green alga Chlorella vulgaris has TTG as a putative initiation codon. This gene was shown to be transcribed by RT-PCR analysis. The infA mRNA was translated accurately from the UUG codon in a tobacco chloroplast in vitro translation system. Mutation of the UUG codon to AUG increased translation efficiency approximately 300-fold. These results indicate that the UUG is functional for accurate translation initiation of Chlorella infA mRNA but it is an inefficient initiation codon.

【 授权许可】

Unknown