Part:BBa_K4469000

Kozak consensus sequence

Vertebrate Kozak consensus sequence plays a vital in strong initiation of translation (Kozak, 1987). This motif serves as an translation initiation enhancement, not to be confused with ribosome binding site.

The Kozak consensus sequence comprises: (1) A start codon, ATG (rarely GTG), which codes for methionine (2) A purine (mainly A) -3 and +4 to start codon (3) C in -1, -2, -4 and -5 (4) G in -3, -6 and -9

Substitution of purine by pyrimidine at position -3 would lead to up to 95% reduction in gene expression (Kozak, 1986). Naming after its discoverer, Marilyn Kozak, the Kozak consensus sequence has an implication on human diseases as a wrong start site can result in non-functional or malfunctional proteins. It has been proven disruption of this motif could jeopardize ribosome recognition and binding to tRNA-Met complex. For instance, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in position -3 of the diazepam-binding inhibitor (DBI) gene causes a reduced DBI expression (Xu et al., 2010), which is found to be associated with anxiety disorder and type II diabetes (Thoeringer et al., 2007, Ambrosini et al., 2021).

Sequence and Features

Assembly Compatibility:

• 10
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[10]
• 12
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[12]
• 21
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[21]
• 23
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[23]
• 25
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[25]
• 1000
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[1000]