title: In vivo evaluation of the context sequence of the translation initiation codon in plants.
abstract: Statistical analysis of the AUG initiation codon context in several plant organisms identified a nucleotide preference in some positions around the AUG. Sixteen AUG contexts were studied using transient expression in tobacco, maize and Norway spruce. Besides the importance of A or G at position -3, we revealed the role of positions -2, -1 for which AA or CC were found to be the best for tobacco and maize, respectively. GC (positions +4, +5) were also found to be important in both tobacco and maize. Finally, we identified a variation in context efficiency according to cell type, since A was better than G at position -3 in tobacco leaf protoplasts, while both nucleotides were equally efficient in tobacco suspension cells.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Biochimie Physiologique, Université Catholique de Louvain, Place Croix du Sud 2-20, B-1348, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lukaszewicz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Feuermann1
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jérouville
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stas
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boutry