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49250 Bos taurus sequence windows
comprising 3305 of 9218 genes.

55659 Caenorhabiditis elegans sequence windows
comprising 2656 of 50914 genes.

33548 Danio rerio sequence windows
comprising 1929 of 6251 genes.

9039 Drosophila melanogaster sequence windows
comprising 595 of 5005 genes.

16902 Escherichia coli sequence windows
comprising 1242 of 4319 genes.

0 Eschericia coli sequence windows
comprising 0 of 0 genes.

31910 Gallus gallus sequence windows
comprising 1907 of 4450 genes.

1644 Haloarcula marismortui sequence windows
comprising 165 of 3412 genes.

105046 Homo sapiens sequence windows
comprising 6894 of 29243 genes.

86909 Mus musculus sequence windows
comprising 5933 of 15663 genes.

26975 Rattus norvegicus sequence windows
comprising 1959 of 5376 genes.

72483 Saccharomyces bayanus sequence windows
comprising 2952 of 4970 genes.

75177 Saccharomyces castellii sequence windows
comprising 2969 of 4681 genes.

148863 Saccharomyces cerevisiae sequence windows
comprising 4128 of 6352 genes.

34192 Saccharomyces kluyveri sequence windows
comprising 1667 of 2975 genes.

48881 Saccharomyces kudriavzevii sequence windows
comprising 2215 of 3778 genes.

41649 Saccharomyces mikatae sequence windows
comprising 1871 of 3109 genes.

116443 Saccharomyces paradoxus sequence windows
comprising 4719 of 8955 genes.

18322 Schizosaccharomyces pombe sequence windows
comprising 680 of 5091 genes.

2314 Virus sequence windows
comprising 53 of 417 genes.

79481 Xenopus laevis sequence windows
comprising 4808 of 9337 genes.

44295 Xenopus tropicalis sequence windows
comprising 2663 of 5126 genes.

Welcome!

Cis-acting mRNA elements that program ribosomes to shift translational reading frame were first discovered in viruses. These programmed -1 ribosomal frameshift (-1 PRF) signals are composed of a heptameric "slippery site" followed by an mRNA pseudoknot secondary structure. 1

Viruses typically use -1 PRF as a genome condensation strategy; enabling them to encode multiple proteins from a single unaltered mRNA. Historically, because of their relative simplicity, many molecular regulatory elements have been first discovered in viruses: -1 PRF is no different.

We developed a computational method to identify putative -1 PRF signals in eukaryotic genomic sequences. Subsets of these sequences were shown to stimulate significant -1 programmed frameshifting using dual-luciferase reporter constructs. 2

Analysis of these signals suggests that, after a frameshifting event, ribosomes would be directed to translate premature termination codons. These should promote mRNA destabilization via the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway. We previously showed that a viral -1 PRF signal cloned in a similar context can function as an mRNA destabilizing element. 3 This suggests that regulation of -1 PRF may be used to regulate cellular gene expression by controlling mRNA stability. In addition, ribosome stalling induced by strong mRNA structures can also promote mRNA degradation via 'No-go decay,' suggesting that our computational approach may be capable of identifying a class of mRNA destabilizing elements independent of -1 PRF.

This online database is focused on cataloging programmed ribosomal frameshift signals (PRF) in eukaryotic genomes. Please search for a gene of interest or select one of the links above to get started. Most of the sequence information from this database came from either the Yeast Genome Project or the Mammalian Gene Collection.

It is possible to search for any word(s) from the NCBI or SGD gene description as well as the canonical gene name. Thus searching for 'RPL' or 'ribosome' are likely candidates for looking at ribosomal genes.


  1. Plant, E.P., Muldoon Jacobs, K.L., Harger, J.W., Meskauskas, A., Jacobs, J.L., Baxter, J.L., Petrov, A.N., Dinman, J.D. The 9-Å solution: How mRNA pseudoknots promote efficient programmed -1 ribosomal frameshifting. RNA (9), 168-174 (2003).
  2. Jacobs JL, Belew AT, Rakauskaite R, Dinman JD. Identification of functional, endogenous programmed -1 ribosomal frameshift signals in the genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae NAR 2006 Dec7
  3. Plant EP, Wang P, Jacobs JL and Dinman JD. A programmed –1 ribosomal frameshift signal can function as a cis-acting mRNA destabilizing element. NAR (32), 784-790 (2004).