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Translation initiation: variations in the mechanism can be anticipated

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Abstract

Translation initiation is a critical step in protein synthesis. Previously, two major mechanisms of initiation were considered as essential: prokaryotic, based on SD interaction; and eukaryotic, requiring cap structure and ribosomal scanning. Although discovered decades ago, cap-independent translation has recently been acknowledged as a widely spread mechanism in viruses, which may take place in some cellular mRNA translations. Moreover, it has become evident that translation can be initiated on the leaderless mRNA in all three domains of life. New findings demonstrate that other distinguishable types of initiation exist, including SD-independent in Bacteria and Archaea, and various modifications of 5′ end-dependent and internal initiation mechanisms in Eukarya. Since translation initiation has developed through the loss, acquisition, and modification of functional elements, all of which have been elevated by competition with viral translation in a large number of organisms of different complexity, more variation in initiation mechanisms can be anticipated.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions, and apologies to those researchers whose work has not been cited because of the limited space. N.M. and J.E.G.M. acknowledge the support of BBSRC/EPSRC grant BB/C008219/1.

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  1. Manchester Centre for Integrative Systems Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre, The University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK

    Naglis Malys & John E. G. McCarthy

  2. Manchester Centre for Integrative Systems Biology, School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre, The University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK

    John E. G. McCarthy

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  1. Naglis Malys
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Correspondence to Naglis Malys.

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Malys, N., McCarthy, J.E.G. Translation initiation: variations in the mechanism can be anticipated. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 68, 991–1003 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-010-0588-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-010-0588-z

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