A model to express the downstream gene through ribosomal frameshiftingmechanism using a single ribosome binding site

Abstract

Ribosome is a molecular machine responsible for the protein synthesis inside the cell which converts the information in mRNA sequence to a specific amino acid sequence by the process known as translation [1]. In prokaryotes, translation initiation is considered as the most regulated step in protein synthesis. The positioning of ribosome with start codon of mRNA is assisted by the ribosome binding site for efficient and accurate translation [2]. Usually, the presence of ribosome binding sites for each gene is required for expression of multiple genes in an operon like constructs witha single promoter. However,some experimental observations have opened the path to study the possibility of translation initiation of several genes using one ribosome binding site. In the current study, we focused on understanding the expression of downstream gene by constructing models using stop-start overlapping and spacer length increments between upstream and downstream genes using one ribosome binding site. The results obtained from the study imply the expression of downstream gene suggesting the fact whereribosomal frameshifting mechanism making the start codon accessible for the translation initiation. It also suggests the existence of some undiscovered factors or mechanism on the translation initiation and the possible production of several proteins using one ribosome binding site.