The Highly Conserved Codon following the Slippery Sequence Supports -1 Frameshift Efficiency at the HIV-1 Frameshift Site

Mathew, Suneeth F.; Crowe-McAuliffe, Caillan; Graves, Ryan; Cardno, Tony S.; McKinney, Cushla; Poole, Elizabeth S.; Tate, Warren P.

Previously eRF1 knockdown has been shown to affect −1 PRF efficiency in HIV-1 with the GGG intercodon; that is, even when the element does not contain a stop codon [55] . We ) and tRNA Ser as a control (serine). The mean ± SEM for four replicates is shown. B. Effect of over-expressing cognate suppressor tRNA UGA , non-cognate tRNA UAG or control tRNA Ser on human antizyme +1 frameshift efficiency. The mean ± SEM for four replicates is shown. C. Effect on −1 frameshift efficiency of the HIV-1 element when UAG (black) or UGA (grey) suppressor tRNAs or the control tRNA Ser (white) are expressed. Frameshift efficiency was measured for the cognate, non-cognate, and control tRNAs. Note the change in scales between when the intercodon is the native GGG (left) and UGA or UGA with a complementary mutation restoring the stem (UGA_U, right). The mean ± SEM for four replicates (GGG) or six replicates (UGA and UGA_U) is shown. *P = < 0.05, **P = < 0.01, ***P = < 0.001. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0122176.g006