RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Measurements of translation initiation from all 64 codons in <em>E. coli</em>
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 063800
DO 10.1101/063800
A1 Ariel Hecht
A1 Jeff Glasgow
A1 Paul R. Jaschke
A1 Lukmaan Bawazer
A1 Matthew S. Munson
A1 Jennifer Cochran
A1 Drew Endy
A1 Marc Salit
YR 2016
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/07/14/063800.abstract
AB Our understanding of translation is one cornerstone of molecular biology that underpins our capacity to engineer living matter. The canonical start codon (AUG) and a few near-cognates (GUG, UUG) are typically considered as the “start codons” for translation initiation in Escherichia coli (E. coli). Translation is typically not thought to initiate from the 61 remaining codons. Here, we systematically quantified translation initiation in E. coli from all 64 triplet codons. We detected protein synthesis above background initiating from at least 46 codons. Translation initiated from these non-canonical start codons at levels ranging from 0.01% to 2% relative to AUG. Translation initiation from non-canonical start codons may contribute to the synthesis of peptides in both natural and synthetic biological systems