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Open reading frames (ORFs) are parts of a reading frame that contain no stop codons. A reading frame is a sequence of nucleotide triplets that are read as codons specifying amino acids; a single strand of DNA sequence has three possible reading frames. Long ORFs may indicate candidate protein coding regions in a DNA sequence.
Yuhta Nomura and Naoshi Dohmae report the discovery of a small protein-coding gene that overlaps the tumor suppressor gene Scribble. Their data suggest that the overlapping gene, oSCRIB, limits the translation of downstream Scribble and may have important implications in cancer.
Many alternative ORFs are co-encoded with characterized proteins, but their function is often not understood. Here, the authors discover that ribosomal protein L36 is co-encoded with alternative protein, which they identify as an upstream regulator of PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling.
Translation reinitiation of open reading frames (ORFs) located after upstream ORFs is dependent on the DENR–MCT1 complex, which regulates a specific set of mRNAs.
