Translational coupling via termination-reinitiation in archaea and bacteria

Madeleine Huber, Guilhem Faure, Sebastian Laass, Esther Kolbe, Kristina Seitz, Christina Wehrheim, Yuri I. Wolf, Eugene V. Koonin and Jörg Soppa ()
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Madeleine Huber: Goethe University, Institute for Molecular Biosciences
Guilhem Faure: National Institutes of Health
Sebastian Laass: Goethe University, Institute for Molecular Biosciences
Esther Kolbe: Goethe University, Institute for Molecular Biosciences
Kristina Seitz: Goethe University, Institute for Molecular Biosciences
Christina Wehrheim: Goethe University, Institute for Molecular Biosciences
Yuri I. Wolf: National Institutes of Health
Eugene V. Koonin: National Institutes of Health
Jörg Soppa: Goethe University, Institute for Molecular Biosciences

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract The genomes of many prokaryotes contain substantial fractions of gene pairs with overlapping stop and start codons (ATGA or TGATG). A potential benefit of overlapping gene pairs is translational coupling. In 720 genomes of archaea and bacteria representing all major phyla, we identify substantial, albeit highly variable, fractions of co-directed overlapping gene pairs. Various patterns are observed for the utilization of the SD motif for de novo initiation at upstream genes versus reinitiation at overlapping gene pairs. We experimentally test the predicted coupling in 9 gene pairs from the archaeon Haloferax volcanii and 5 gene pairs from the bacterium Escherichia coli. In 13 of 14 cases, translation of both genes is strictly coupled. Mutational analysis of SD motifs located upstream of the downstream genes indicate that the contribution of the SD to translational coupling widely varies from gene to gene. The nearly universal, abundant occurrence of overlapping gene pairs suggests that tight translational coupling is widespread in archaea and bacteria.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11999-9

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