Question

1. Imagine that you and your colleagues are working in a lab to develop a protein synthesis system for a new type of synthetic cell. During your brainstorming sessions, you propose that polycistronic mRNA would be much more useful than mRNA that is only translated into one protein. This would allow for multiple proteins necessary for a particular function to be translated together. One of your colleagues says that is a good idea, but if you decide to go with polycistronic mRNA, you’d better make sure to use a prokaryotic translation system. Why might it be problematic to use a eukaryotic translation system with polycistronic mRNA?

Answer 1

Eukaryotic translation system couldn't translate polycistronic mRNA into multiple proteins because it requires 5′-cap for the initiation of translation and there is only one 5' cap in polycistronic mRNA

Step-by-step explanation:

Polycistronic mRNA is found in prokaryotic organisms. Polycistronic mRNA is synthesized during the transcription of prokaryotic operon-structure within prokaryotic genome in which multiple different genes are under the control of one promotor. Polycistronic mRNA might undergo splicing to create monocistronic mRNAs which will be translated separately into few products (proteins).