Ready, steady, go: Rapid ribosomal scanning to reach start codons

Wang et al. (2022)(1) employ real-time single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy to monitor eukaryotic translation initiation events, revealing that, while mRNA engagement by ribosomal 43S subunits is slow, the subsequent mRNA scanning process is rapid- similar to 10 times faster than translation.

Automated summary

Wang et al. (2022) use real-time single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy to observe eukaryotic translation initiation events. They find that the engagement of mRNA by ribosomal 43S subunits is slow, but the subsequent mRNA scanning process is rapid, approximately 10 times faster than translation.