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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Future Virol. 2011 Sep;6(9):1045–1058. doi: 10.2217/fvl.11.76

Figure 2. Mechanisms of translation initiation.

Figure 2

(A) Conventional, cap-dependent translation occurs upon binding of eIF4E to the canonical m7G cap on eukaryotic mRNAs. This enables recruitment of the preinitiation complex, including 40S ribosomal subunits, to mRNAs. Assembly of the preinitiation complex at the 5′ cap precedes scanning of the 5′ untranslated region and initiation proper at the initiation codon. (B) Cap-independent translation at the poliovirus genome occurs upon direct recruitment of eIF4G to the IRES element in the viral 5′ untranslated region.

eIF: Eukaryotic initiation factor; IRES: Internal ribosomal entry site; m7G: 7-methyl-guanidine; PABP: Poly(A) binding protein; T:Met: Initiator (Met) tRNA.