TED: Enhancing Translation Efficiency in Bacterial Expression Systems

Genetic engineering enables the forced expression of desired products in bacteria, which can then be used for a variety of applications, including functional analysis and pharmaceuticals. Here, we describe a method for tuning translation in bacteria, including Escherichia coli and Rhodobacter capsulatus, based on a phenomenon known as TED (translation enhancement by a Dictyostelium gene sequence). This method promotes translation of mRNA encoded by downstream genes by inserting a short nucleotide sequence into the 5′ untranslated region between the promoter and the Shine–Dalgarno (SD) sequence. Various expression levels can be observed depending on the inserted sequence and its length, even with an identical promoter.