A helicase links upstream ORFs and RNA structure
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Updated: Feb 2, 2026

RNA Secondary Structure Prediction Using High-throughput SHAPE
Published on: May 31, 2013
Eckhard Jankowsky1, Ulf-Peter Guenther2,3
1Center for RNA Science and Therapeutics, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA. exj13@case.edu.
Abstract:
Upstream open reading frames (uORFs) in 5' UTRs of eukaryotic mRNAs are increasingly recognized as important elements that regulate cellular protein synthesis. Since uORFs can start from non-AUG codons, an enormous number of potential uORF initiation sites exists in 5'UTRs. However, only a subset of these sites is used and it has been unclear how actual start sites are selected. Studies of the DEAD-box helicase Ded1p from S. cerevisiae show that translation of uORFs with non-AUG initiation codons occurs upstream of mRNA structures that emerge with defective Ded1p. The data designate mRNA structure as important determinant for non-AUG initiation sites of uORFs. Ded1p can control this RNA structure and thereby regulate uORF translation.
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