Position-dependent ATT initiation during plant pararetrovirus rice tungro bacilliform virus translation

The expression of the rice tungro bacilliform virus open reading frame I was studied in transiently transfected protoplasts. Expression occurs despite the presence of a long leader sequence and the absence of a proper ATG initiation codon. Translation is initiated at an ATT codon. The efficiency of initiation in rice protoplasts depends strongly on the mechanism by which ribosomes reach this codon. From the effects of scanning-inhibiting structures inserted into different leader regions, it can be deduced that this mechanism is related to the ribosome shunt described for cauliflower mosaic virus 35S RNA. The process delivers initiation-competent ribosomes to the region downstream of the leader and is so precise that only the second of two potential start codons only 12 nucleotides apart is recognized. The ATT codon that is used when it is present downstream of the leader is hardly recognized as a start codon by ribosomes that reach it by scanning.