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Updated: Aug 23, 2026

Polysome Fractionation and Analysis of Mammalian Translatomes on a Genome-wide Scale
Published on: May 17, 2014
A dedicated translation factor controls the synthesis of the global regulator Fis
Róisín M Owens1, Gareth Pritchard, Paul Skipp
1School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
Abstract:
BipA is a highly conserved protein with global regulatory properties in Escherichia coli. We show here that it functions as a translation factor that is required specifically for the expression of the transcriptional modulator Fis. BipA binds to ribosomes at a site that coincides with that of elongation factor G and has a GTPase activity that is sensitive to high GDP:GTP ratios and stimulated by 70S ribosomes programmed with mRNA and aminoacylated tRNAs. The growth rate-dependent induction of BipA allows the efficient expression of Fis, thereby modulating a range of downstream processes, including DNA metabolism and type III secretion. We propose a model in which BipA destabilizes unusually strong interactions between the 5' untranslated region of fis mRNA and the ribosome. Since BipA spans phylogenetic domains, transcript-selective translational control for the 'fast-track' expression of specific mRNAs may have wider significance.
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