Phenomenon that occurs during translation of a messenger RNA into proteins
Ribosomal frameshiftingtranslational frameshifting or translational recoding , is a biological phenomenon that occurs during translation that results in the production of multiple, unique proteins from a single mRNA .[ 1] nucleotide sequence of the mRNA and is sometimes affected by the secondary, 3-dimensional mRNA structure .[ 2] viruses (especially retroviruses ), retrotransposons and bacterial insertion elements, and also in some cellular genes .[ 3]
Small molecules, proteins, and nucleic acids have also been found to stimulate levels of frameshifting. In December 2023, it was reported that in vitro -transcribed (IVT) mRNAs in response to BNT162b2 (Pfizer–BioNTech) anti-COVID-19 vaccine caused ribosomal frameshifting.[ 4]
^ Atkins JF, Loughran G, Bhatt PR, Firth AE, Baranov PV (September 2016). "Ribosomal frameshifting and transcriptional slippage: From genetic steganography and cryptography to adventitious use" . Nucleic Acids Research . 44 (15): 7007–7078. doi :10.1093/nar/gkw530 . PMC 5009743 PMID 27436286 . ^ Napthine S, Ling R, Finch LK, Jones JD, Bell S, Brierley I, Firth AE (June 2017). "Protein-directed ribosomal frameshifting temporally regulates gene expression" . Nature Communications . 8 : 15582. Bibcode :2017NatCo...815582N . doi :10.1038/ncomms15582 . PMC 5472766 PMID 28593994 . ^ Ketteler R (2012). "On programmed ribosomal frameshifting: the alternative proteomes" . Frontiers in Genetics . 3 : 242. doi :10.3389/fgene.2012.00242 PMC 3500957 PMID 23181069 . ^ Mulroney, Thomas E.; Pöyry, Tuija; Yam-Puc, Juan Carlos; Rust, Maria; Harvey, Robert F.; Kalmar, Lajos; Horner, Emily; Booth, Lucy; Ferreira, Alexander P.; Stoneley, Mark; Sawarkar, Ritwick; Mentzer, Alexander J.; Lilley, Kathryn S.; Smales, C. Mark; von der Haar, Tobias (6 December 2023). "N1-methylpseudouridylation of mRNA causes +1 ribosomal frameshifting" . Nature . 625 (7993): 189–194. doi :10.1038/s41586-023-06800-3 ISSN 1476-4687 . PMC 10764286 PMID 38057663 .