Structural and functional characterization of putative translation initiation factors and their homologs in archaea

Abstract

The process of protein translation involves decoding of a nucleic acid into a polypeptide chain in three steps viz initiation elongation and termination Although the basic mechanism and components of protein translation are highly conserved the translation initiation stage has undergone extensive divergence in bacteria and eukaryotes The most distinct difference lies in the number of accessory proteins called translation initiation factors IFs Bacteria utilize only three translation IFs...