Shine-Dalgarno sequence


Shine-Dal·gar·no se·quence

(shīn dăl'gahr-nō), a purine-rich, untranslated region of mRNA upstream from the initiation codon in prokaryotes; assists in aligning the mRNA on the ribosome. [J. Shine, L. Dalgarno]

Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence

a PURINE-rich sequence (5′-AGGAGGU-3′) about six to eight bases UPSTREAM of the start CODON for TRANSLATION, on bacterial mRNA. The sequence is complementary to, and base pairs (see BASE PAIRING with, a sequence near the 3′-end of the 16S ribosomal RNA of the RIBOSOME. It acts as a RIBOSOME BINDING SITE and is important in ribosome alignment for efficient translation. The sequence is named after J Shine and 1 Dalgarno, who discovered it in ESCHERICHIA COLI .