Average translation rate

Range ~8 amino acids/sec
Organism Bacteria Escherichia coli
Reference Guet CC et al., Minimally invasive determination of mRNA concentration in single living bacteria. Nucleic Acids Res. 2008 Jul36(12):e73. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkn329. p.4 right column bottom paragraphPubMed ID18515347
Comments p.4 right column bottom paragraph:"The rate of production of DsRed monomers, P, is: d[P]/dt=k[mRNA]- µ[P] where k is the translation rate per mRNA molecule. At steady state, k= µ[P]/[mRNA]. [Investigators] find k=6.7 DsRed monomers per mRNA transcript per minute. The dsRed gene codes for 220 amino acids, and if [investigators] assume on average three ribosomes loaded per mRNA message (BNID 111690), [they] find that the average translation rate for an individual ribosome is about eight amino acids per second. This rate is consistent with the translation rates of previous studies (refs 23,24)."
Entered by Uri M
ID 111689