Naturally occurring adenines within mRNA coding sequences affect ribosome binding and expression in Escherichia coli.

Translation initiation requires the precise positioning of a ribosome at the start codon. The major signals of bacterial mRNA that direct the ribosome to a translational start site are the Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence within the untranslated leader and the start codon. Evidence for the presence of many non-SD-led genes in prokaryotes provides a motive for studying additional interactions between ribosomes and mRNA that contribute to translation initiation.