Antibiotic re-frames decoding

摘要

Messenger RNAs encode proteins using a sequence of codons: triplets of nucleotides that specify different amino acids. But for a codon sequence to be interpreted, the right reading frame must be set at the start of decoding - translation must begin at the first nucleotide of a codon, rather than at the second or third. Switching from the correct frame to one of the two alternatives occurs rarely, except at specific places within coding sequences where such frameshifting is programmed. Writing in Molecular Cell, Gupta et al. report the exciting finding that antibiotics known as ketolides induce frameshifting.