Translation in the 3'Untranslated Region of Mammalian Transcripts

Abstract

Mammalian mRNAs generally have a 5'UTR (untranslated region), a coding DNA sequence, and a 3'UTR. The 3'UTR of mRNA is generally believed to be the untranslated region of the mRNA. However, there are certain instances in which the 3'UTR of mRNA can be translated. Among these are intriguing mechanisms such as Stop Codon Readthrough (SCR) and initiation of translation in a downstream open reading frame (ORF). These two mechanisms are the focus of study in this thesis.