The initiation of eukaryotic and prokaryotic protein synthesis: A selective accessibility and multisubstrate enzyme reaction

Abstract

An extension of our unique accessibility hypothesis for the initiation of protein synthesis is proposed following a review of the initiation of protein synthesis. The E. coli model initiation sequence generated by computer from 68 initiation sequences and the eukaryotic consensus initiation sequence derived by non-computer analysis of 211 initiation sequences do not contain a specific base in any position; they are only assigned preferred bases. The initiation site, in other words, is a varied sequence of preferred bases and its sequence is non-unique. This indicates that the ribosomal recognition of the initiation site may be the result of multiple interactions that are cooperative and cumulative and typical of multisubstrate enzymes. Because of this characteristic, the model of multisubstrate enzymes with broad substrate specificity is proposed as a paradigm for the initiation of protein synthesis. As predicted by this model, changes in the leader and downstream sequences that improve the agreement with the preferred base sequence do indeed enhance the rate of protein synthesis. The eukaryotic/prokaryotic hybrid studies show a considerable overlap in the specificities of the two groups of ribosomes. The scanning of the mRNA from the 5′-end postulated by the scanning hypothesis is not a necessary step since eukaryotic ribosomes are able to bind to internal mRNA sites and initiate synthesis. Our unique accessibility hypothesis, which is extended by coupling cooperative and cumulative specificity in ribosomal function, is referred to for brevity as the cumulative specificity hypothesis. The hypothesis actually postulates a selective accessibility and cooperative–cumulative specificity mechanism; it is able to account for the behavior of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic initiation of protein synthesis. From another perspective, the hypothesis can be regarded as providing a mechanism that enables ribosomes to recognize the IS in the absence of a unique initiation sequence.