Leftward ribosome frameshifting at a hungry codon

Abstract

Previous experiments have shown that limitation for certain aminoacyl-tRNA species results in phenotypic suppression of a subset of frameshift mutant alleles, including members in both the (+) and (−) incorrect reading frames. Here, we demonstrate that such phenotypic suppression can occur through a ribosome reading frame shift at a hungry AAG codon calling for lysyl-tRNA in short supply. Direct amino acid sequence analysis of the product and DNA sequence manipulation of the gene demonstrate that the ribosome frameshift occurs through a movement of one base to the left, so as to decode the triplet overlapping the hungry codon from the left or 5′ side, followed by continued normal translation in the new, shifted reading frame.