The 3′-Terminal Sequence of Escherichia coli 16S Ribosomal RNA: Complementarity to Nonsense Triplets and Ribosome Binding Sites

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Abstract
With a stepwise degradation and terminal labeling procedure the 3′-terminal sequence of E. coli 16S ribosomal RNA is shown to be Pyd-A-C-C-U-C-C-U-U-A OH . It is suggested that this region of the RNA is able to interact with mRNA and that the 3′-terminal U-U-A OH is involved in the termination of protein synthesis through base-pairing with terminator codons. The sequence A-C-C-U-C-C could recognize a conserved sequence found in the ribosome binding sites of various coliphage mRNAs; it may thus be involved in the formation of the mRNA·30S subunit complex.