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Updated: Jul 6, 2025

Single Molecule Fluorescence Energy Transfer Study of Ribosome Protein Synthesis
Published on: July 6, 2021
The ribosome as a small-molecule sensor
Arunima Bhattacharya1, Thibaud T Renault1, C Axel Innis1
1Univ. Bordeaux, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, ARNA, UMR 5320, U1212, Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie, F-33600 Pessac, France.
Abstract:
Sensing small molecules is crucial for microorganisms to adapt their genetic programs to changes in their environment. Arrest peptides encoded by short regulatory open reading frames program the ribosomes that translate them to undergo translational arrest in response to specific metabolites. Ribosome stalling in turn controls the expression of downstream genes on the same messenger RNA by translational or transcriptional means. In this review, we present our current understanding of the mechanisms by which ribosomes translating arrest peptides sense different metabolites, such as antibiotics or amino acids, to control gene expression.
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