%0 Journal Article %A Spena, A. %A Krause, E. %A Dobberstein, Bernhard %D 1985 %F heidok:8378 %J The EMBO Journal %K in vitro transcription-translation , zein mRNA , inverted repeats , 5'- and 3'-untranslated regions , translational potential %N 9 %P 2153-2158 %R 10.11588/heidok.00008378 %T Translation efficiency of zein mRNA is reduced by hybrid formation between the 5´-and 3´-untranslated region %U https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/8378/ %V 4 %X The secondary structure of zein mRNA affects its translational potential. Here we show that in a cell-free system the translation efficiency of zein mRNA containing inverted repeats in the 5'- and 3'-untranslated regions is reduced. This translational block is released after deletion of the 3'-inverted repeat. We conclude that the translational block is caused by hybrid formation between the two inverted repeats. The translational efficiency of zein mRNAs, is also affected by varying the length or the primary structure of the 5'-untranslated region.