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Targeting Recoding by trans-Translation to Develop Antibiotics
Kenneth C Keiler1, Akanksha Varshney2, Christine M Dunham3
1Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA kkeiler@utexas.edu.
None:
trans-Translation is a recoding event in which a translating ribosome switches from the engaged messenger RNA (mRNA) to a specialized reading frame within transfer-messenger RNA (tmRNA) without releasing the nascent polypeptide, producing a protein that is encoded in two physically distinct RNA molecules. trans-Translation is the most abundant form of recoding and is found throughout the bacterial kingdom. In Escherichia coli growing in liquid culture, ∼5% of newly synthesized proteins are recoded through trans-translation. The importance of this pathway for pathogenic bacteria makes it a potential target for antibiotic development. This review covers the role of trans-translation in pathogenesis, potential points for inhibition, and the progress in developing trans-translation inhibitors as antibiotics.
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