What question did this study set out to answer?

Determine whether translational coupling via termination-reinitiation requires overlapping or very short intergenic distances versus long-range ribosomal scanning across intergenic gaps.

November 9, 2023Frontiers in MicrobiologyOpen Access

Unidirectional gene pairs in archaea and bacteria require overlaps or very short intergenic distances for translational coupling via termination-reinitiation and often encode subunits of heteromeric complexes

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Determine whether translational coupling via termination-reinitiation requires overlapping or very short intergenic distances versus long-range ribosomal scanning across intergenic gaps.
Quantified reinitiation efficiency using dual-reporter gene systems across three native gene pairs in Haloferax volcanii and three in Escherichia coli, modifying intergenic spacing via engineered upstream stop codons.
Conducted genome-wide bioinformatic profiling of intergenic distances among unidirectional gene pairs across H. volcanii, E. coli, and 1,695 prokaryotic species representing 49 phyla.
Translational coupling showed an extreme dependence on intergenic distance, where gaps of approximately 20 nucleotides almost completely abolished reinitiation across all tested gene pairs in both species.
Bioinformatic surveys confirmed that gene overlaps of −4 and −1 nucleotides predominate across 1,695 prokaryotic genomes, indicating that post-termination ribosomal scanning across long distances rarely occurs.
Short overlaps were heavily enriched among unidirectional pairs encoding subunits of heteromeric complexes, reflecting evolutionary pressure to preserve stoichiometric balance.

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Implication

Experimental and bioinformatic analysis demonstrates that translational coupling requires short gene overlaps in prokaryotes, suggesting selection for precise subunit stoichiometry in protein...

Cite This Study

Huber et al. (2023) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a9d463f3685bbe8d2fcdfdc https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1291523

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Implication

Experimental and bioinformatic analysis demonstrates that translational coupling requires short gene overlaps in prokaryotes, suggesting selection for precise subunit stoichiometry in protein...

Unidirectional gene pairs in archaea and bacteria require overlaps or very short intergenic distances for translational coupling via termination-reinitiation and often encode subunits of heteromeric complexes

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Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

Unidirectional gene pairs in archaea and bacteria require overlaps or very short intergenic distances for translational coupling via termination-reinitiation and often encode subunits of heteromeric complexes

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study