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The mechanism by which tmRNA rescues stalled ribosomes

  • Chapter
Ribosomes

Abstract

Not all translation reactions end in the synthesis of a full-length protein. In bacteria, ribosomes stall at the 3′ end of mRNA transcripts lacking stop codons, as they cannot efficiently employ release factors for termination and recycling. Some non-stop mRNAs arise from defects in transcription. RNA polymerase occasionally terminates transcription prematurely; this can occur either as a result of pausing at specific sequences or encountering a tightly-bound protein on the DNA (Abo et al., 2000). Another likely source is the regular process of mRNA degradation. mRNAs are turned over quickly in bacteria, with an average half-life of about six or seven minutes (Bernstein et al., 2002; Selinger et al., 2003). Bacterial mRNAs are degraded by endonucleases and by processive 3′ to 5′ exonucleases (Condon, 2007). An exonuclease that collides with a translating ribosome leaves it stalled on the truncated transcript. Ribosome stalling constitutes a serious threat to the integrity of bacterial cells: roughly 1 in 250 of all translation reactions result in an irreversible arrest (Moore and Sauer, 2005). If these arrested ribosomes were not released, the majority of ribosomes would become inoperative within a single generation.

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Authors
  1. David Healey
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  2. Mickey Miller
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  3. Christopher Woolstenhulme
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  4. Allen Buskirk
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Biochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, 37077, Göttingen, Germany

    Marina V. Rodnina  & Wolfgang Wintermeyer  & 

  2. Howard Hughes Medical Institute Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Rachel Green

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Healey, D., Miller, M., Woolstenhulme, C., Buskirk, A. (2011). The mechanism by which tmRNA rescues stalled ribosomes. In: Rodnina, M.V., Wintermeyer, W., Green, R. (eds) Ribosomes. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-0215-2_29

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