title: Evolution of translational initiation: new insights from the archaea.
abstract: Recent in silico and experimental data have shed new light on the mechanism and components of translational initiation in archaea. The available data about the structure of archaeal mRNAs, mRNA/ribosome interaction and archaeal translation initiation factors are reviewed and analyzed in the conceptual framework of the evolution of translational initiation. A model of the initiation step of translation in the Last Universal Common Ancestor of extant cells is presented and discussed.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biochimica Medica e Biologia Medica (DIBIM), Universitá di Bari - Piazzale Giulio Cesare, 70124 Bari, Italy. londei@bce.uniroma1.it
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Londei
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000235:genetics*; D018387:Codon, Initiator; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D019766:Genes, Archaeal; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018387:Codon, Initiator; D012333:RNA, Messenger