RRNA:mRNA pairing alters the length and the symmetry of mRNA-protected fragments in ribosome profiling experiments

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Abstract

Motivation: Ribosome profiling is a new technique that allows monitoring locations of translating ribosomes on mRNA at a whole transcriptome level. A recent ribosome profiling study demonstrated that internal Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequences have a major global effect on translation rates in bacteria: ribosomes pause at SD sites in mRNA. Therefore, it is important to understand how SD sites effect mRNA movement through the ribosome and generation of ribosome footprints.Results: Here, we provide evidence that in addition to pausing effect, internal SD sequences induce a caterpillar-like movement of mRNA through the ribosome cavity. Once an SD site binds to the ribosome, it remains attached to it while the ribosome decodes a few subsequent codons. This leads to asymmetric progressive elongation of ribosome footprints at the 3′-end. It is likely that internal SD sequences induce a pause not on a single, but on several adjacent codons. This finding is important for our understanding of mRNA movement through the ribosome and also should facilitate interpretation of ribosome profiling data. © 2012 The Author.

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O’Connor, P. B. F., Li, G. W., Weissman, J. S., Atkins, J. F., & Baranov, P. V. (2013). RRNA:mRNA pairing alters the length and the symmetry of mRNA-protected fragments in ribosome profiling experiments. Bioinformatics, 29(12), 1488–1491. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btt184

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