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Effects of GUG and AUG initiation codons on the expression of lacZ in Escherichia coli
Author(s) -
Looman A.C.,
van Knippenberg P.H.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(86)80349-0
Subject(s) - lac operon , escherichia coli , start codon , ribosomal binding site , gene , tufa , translation (biology) , microbiology and biotechnology , eukaryotic translation , messenger rna , gene expression , biology , chemistry , genetics , organic chemistry , carbonate
We have replaced the ribosomal binding site (RBS) of the lacZ gene of E. coli by those of the maturation (A) gene of phage MS2 and that of the tufA gene. Both RBSs contain a GUG initiation codon. The expression with the tufA RBS is at least 25‐fold higher than with the phage RBS. Changing the GUG into AUG results in a 3‐fold increase in expression in both cases. In general, higher expression is accompanied by an increase of lac ‐specific mRNA. It is argued that this is a consequence of the more efficient translation of the mRNA.