[Non-canonical decoding events at stop codons in eukaryotes]

Regulation of protein synthesis at translation termination is a relatively under-explored, but rapidly expanding field. Recent advances in elucidating the mechanism of translation termination are helping to understand non-canonical events associated with translation termination. These "recoding" events include read-through of stop-codons, insertion of unusual amino acids such as selenocysteine and production of several polypeptides from one open reading frame. This review summarises data on termination-dependent recoding events, and proposes that there are two types of stop codon-associated sequences optimized to perform different functions: termination of translation per se or alternative elongation events.