Open AccessCodon choice and potential complementarity between mRNA downstream of the initiation codon and bases 1471 –1480 in 16S ribosomal RNA affects expression ofglnS
Author(s) -
Margareta Faxén,
Jacqueline Plumbridge,
Leif A. Isaksson
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
nucleic acids research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 9.008
H-Index - 537
eISSN - 1362-4954
pISSN - 0305-1048
DOI - 10.1093/nar/19.19.5247
Subject(s) - biology , gene , genetics , rna , gene expression , messenger rna , codon usage bias , mutation , ribosomal rna , start codon , stop codon , microbiology and biotechnology , shine dalgarno sequence , genome
A cis-acting expression mutation, GAG to GAA, in the third codon of the glnS gene is analyzed. Both codons code for glutamic acid but the mutation is known to increase gene expression by four fold. We show that the mutation has an effect only if it is located in the beginning of a gene but not if located internally. Data are presented that suggest that the reason for the increased expression by the mutation is the potential formation of one more base pair between the mRNA and 16S ribosomal RNA. Gene expression varies about 16 fold as the number of potential base pairs within the sequence 1471-1480 in 16S RNA increase from two to ten. We also give evidence that supports the idea that the presence of rare codons near the beginning of the mRNA can affect expression.