OverviewThe process of protein synthesis can be divided into three main phases : initiation, during which the ribosomal subunits join the mRNA and locate the AUG initiator codon ; elongation, during which sense codons are decoded and the bulk of the polypeptide is made ; and termination, during which a stop codon directs the release of the completed polypeptide from the ribosome. Whereas the general principles of sense codon decoding by transfer RNAs are well established, a clear picture of translation termination and stop codon recognition has hitherto been lacking. Recently however, the use of optimized, complex, reconstituted in vitro termination reactions to identify the roles of key termination factors, and the solution of tertiary structures of termination factors, has allowed a reappraisal of termination factor structure and function. This review will describe these recent advances, many of which have resulted from studies of termination in micro-organisms, and in the light of the new information, discuss models for the mechanism of termination and recognition of the stop codon. While the mechanism of peptide chain termination is normally effective, stop codons are not always recognized efficiently, and during the translation of certain viral RNAs can be suppressed or read through, resulting in the expression of additional coding information. How stop codons are reassigned to encode ' sense ' at a given frequency in some RNAs will be reviewed in the context of current understanding of termination and stop codon recognition mechanisms. The translation termination apparatus in eukaryotes and prokaryotesDuring translation termination, a stop codon located in the ribosomal A-site is recognized by a release factor or release factor complex, which binds the ribosome and triggers release of the nascent peptide. In eukaryotes, translation is terminated by a heterodimer consisting of two proteins, release factors eRF1 and eRF3, which interact in vivo (Frolova et al., 1994 ;Zhouravleva et al., 1995 ;Stansfield et al., 1995). eRF1 recognizes all three stop codons and triggers peptidyl-tRNA hydrolysis by the ribosome, releasing the nascent peptide (Frolova et al., 1994 ; Drugeon et al., 1997). Eukaryote termination efficiency is enhanced by the GTPase release factor eRF3, the second component of the heterodimer eRF complex. In response to a stop codon in the ribosomal A-site, formation of a quaternary complex comprising the ribosome, eRF1, GTP and eRF3 triggers GTP hydrolysis and enhances the rate of peptidyl release (Zhouravleva et al., 1995 ; Frolova et al., 1994 ; Fig. 1). In yeast, eRF1 and eRF3 are encoded by essential genes (SUP35 and SUP45, respectively), mutations in which produce nonsense suppression phenotypes (Stansfield & Tuite, 1994).In contrast to eukaryotes, the role of stop codon recognition during translation termination in eubacteria is divided between two so-called class 1 release factors, RF1 and RF2, which in Escherichia coli are encoded by the essential prfA and prfB genes, respectively (Scolni...

The eukaryotic guanine-nucleotide exchange factor commonly called elongation factor-1 betagammadelta (EF-1betagammadelta), comprises four different subunits including valyl-tRNA synthetase (EF-1betagammadelta/ValRS). The factor is multiply-phosphorylated by three different protein kinases, protein kinase C, casein kinase II and cyclin dependent kinase 1 (CDKI). EF-1betagammadelta/ValRS is organized as a macromolecular complex for which we propose a new structural model. Evidence that EF-1betagammadelta/ValRS is a sophisticated supramolecular complex containing many phosphorylation sites, makes it a potential regulator of any of the functions of its partner EF-1alpha, not only involved in protein synthesis elongation, but also in many other cellular functions.

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