The rescue of stalled translation complexes: recoding of a sense to a nonsense codon

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Ribosomes synthesise all the proteins in the cell by reading or 'translating' information in messenger RNA (mRNA), which in turn is a copy of information stored in the cell's DNA. Accurate translation by ribosomes relies on them obeying certain rules, the genetic code, in which each triplet of nucleotides is always read in the same way to initiate, continue or terminate synthesis of a completed protein. The fidelity of translation is extremely high, and very few errors are made. Surprisingly however, on occasion ribosomes are prompted to disregard this code, often by particular sequences in the mRNA that is being read or the protein sequence that has just been synthesized by the ribosome and is still inside it. Such 'recoding' events are often found in viral RNAs and allow viruses to generate all the proteins they need from very compact, efficient genomes. Some recoding events also take place on cellular mRNAs and can be very important for correct expression of proteins. In many cases recoding events allow the normal 'stop' signals that signify the end of a protein to be bypassed, leading to extension of the protein. We have uncovered a novel recoding event in which the ribosome is prompted to stop translation and then restart / without the normal signals for either / thereby generating 2 separate proteins from one mRNA. This is dictated by a short peptide sequences termed '2A' from viruses and provides both an important and convenient tool for co-expression of more than one protein without the need for multiple mRNAs, and also the possibility of insight into how the ribosome works. Understanding this event may have another important repercussions as it may allow development of antiviral strategies, aimed at inhibiting this recoding event during viral infection. Our aim is therefore to understand reaction dictated by 2A in detail, identify all the factors that are required and the cellular functions that it impinges on. Thus far we have found that the 2A peptide causes ribosomes to pause, and that the 'release factors' that normally catalyse termination of translation at a stop signal are required for the abnormal termination reaction that takes place at 2A. We will investigate the interactions of release factors with ribosomes paused at 2A and attempt to determine what factors contribute to the pause.