title: The two subunits of human molybdopterin synthase: evidence for a bicistronic messenger RNA with overlapping reading frames.
abstract: Molybdoenzymes are ubiquitous and require a prosthetic group called the molybdenum cofactor for activity. We provide evidence here that the two heteromeric subunits (MOCO1-A and MOCO1-B) of human molybdopterin synthase, which is involved in the conversion of precursor Z to molybdopterin in the molybdenum cofactor biosynthetic pathway, are spe-cified by a single bicistronic mRNA with overlapping reading frames. The transcript is in low abundance and shows variable tissue distribution. We propose that leaky scanning of the first translational initiation codon for MOCO1-A by 40S ribosomal subunits occurs, allowing recognition of the AUG for the downstream MOCO1-B reading frame. Such a genetic arrangement may result in a constant ratio and close proximity of lowly expressed enzyme subunits which should, a priori, be especially advantageous for assembly in complex mammalian cells. The MOCO1 locus resides on human chromosome 5.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia andSchool of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TH, UK.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sloan
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Kinghorn
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Unkles
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001233:Aspergillus nidulans / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000235:genetics; D011247:Pregnancy; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000737:chemistry*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013154:Spleen / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D013466:Sulfurtransferases / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D010446:Peptide Fragments; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D013466:Sulfurtransferases; C085585:molybdopterin synthase