Upstream stimulators for recoding

Recent progress in elucidation of 5' stimulatory elements for translational recoding is reviewed. A 5' Shine-Dalgarno sequence increases both +1 and -1 frameshift efficiency in several genes; examples cited include the E. coli prfB gene encoding release factor 2 and the dnaX gene encoding the gamma and tau subunits of DNA polymerase III holoenzyme. The spacing between the Shine-Dalgarno sequence and the shift site is critical in both the +1 and -1 frameshift cassettes; however, the optimal spacing is quite different in the two cases. A frameshift in a mammalian chromosomal gene, ornithine decarboxylase antizyme, has recently been reported; 5' sequences have been shown to be vital for this frameshift event. Escherichia coli bacteriophage T4 gene 60 encodes a subunit of its type II DNA topoisomerase. The mature gene 60 mRNA contains an internal 50 nucleotide region that appears to be bypassed during translation. A 16 amino acid domain of the nascent peptide is necessary for this bypass to occur.