Fragment of mRNA coding part complementary to region 1638–1650 of wheat 18S RNA functions as a translational enhancer

Abstract

Possible involvement of 18S rRNA fragment 1638-1650 including basements of the helices h44 and h28 and nucleotides of the ribosomal decoding site in the cap-independent translation initiation on plant ribosomes is studied. This rRNA fragment is shown to be accessible for complementary interactions within the 40S ribosomal subunit. It is found that the sequence complementary to the 18S rRNA fragment 1638-1650 is able to enhance efficiency of a reporter mRNA translation when placed just after the initiation codon. The results obtained indicate that in the course of the cap-independent translation initiation, complementary interactions can occur between mRNA coding sequence and 18S rRNA fragment in the region of the ribosomal decoding site.