Summary The Cricket paralysis virus (CrPV) uses an internal ribosomal entry site (IRES) to hijack the ribosome. In a remarkable RNA-based mechanism involving neither initiation factor nor initiator tRNA, the CrPV IRES jump starts translation in the elongation phase from the ribosomal A-site. Here we present cryo-EM maps of 80S•CrPV-STOP•eRF1•eRF3•GMPPNP and 80S•CrPV-STOP•eRF1 complexes revealing a previously unseen binding state of the IRES and directly rationalizing that an eEF2-dependent translocation of the IRES is required to allow the first A-site occupation. During this unusual translocation event the IRES undergoes a pronounced conformational change to a more stretched conformation. At the same time our structural analysis provides information about the binding modes of eRF1•eRF3•GMPPNP and eRF1 in a minimal system. It shows that neither eRF3 nor ABCE1 are required for the active conformation of eRF1 at the intersection between eukaryotic termination and recycling.

Some viruses exploit internal initiation for their propagation in the host cell. This type of initiation is facilitated by structured elements (internal ribosome entry site, IRES) upstream of the initiator AUG and requires only a reduced number of canonical initiation factors. An important example are IRES of the virus family Dicistroviridae that bind to the inter-subunit side of the small ribosomal 40S subunit and lead to the formation of elongation-competent 80S ribosomes without the help of any initiation factor. Here, we present a comprehensive functional and structural analysis of eukaryotic-specific ribosomal protein rpS25 in the context of this type of initiation and propose a structural model explaining the essential involvement of rpS25 for hijacking the ribosome.

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