title: Translational recoding in archaea.
abstract: Translational recoding includes a group of events occurring during gene translation, namely stop codon readthrough, programmed ±1 frameshifting, and ribosome bypassing, which have been found in organisms from all domains of life. They serve to regulate protein expression at translational level and represent a relatively less known exception to the traditional central 'dogma' of biology that information flows as DNA→RNA→protein and that it is stored in a co-linear way between the 5'→3' of nucleic acids and N→C-terminal of polypeptides. In archaea, in which translational recoding regulates the decoding of the 21st and the 22nd amino acids selenocysteine and pyrrolysine, respectively, only one case of programmed -1 frameshifting has been reported so far and further examples, although promising, have not been confirmed yet. We here summarize the current state-of-the-art of this field that, especially in archaea, has relevant implications for the physiology of life in extreme environments and for the origin of life.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Protein Biochemistry, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via P. Castellino 111, 80131, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cobucci-Ponzano
authors.forename: Mosè
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moracci
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D018965:Frameshifting, Ribosomal; D008239:Lysine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D017279:Selenocysteine / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019843:Archaeal Proteins; D017279:Selenocysteine; C456839:pyrrolysine; D008239:Lysine