Adenine-containing codons enhance protein synthesis by promoting mRNA binding to ribosomal 30S subunits provided that specific tRNAs are not exhausted

► mRNA binding to ribosome plays a major role in the enhancement of translation by adenine-rich codons. ► This effect is naturally expressed in wild type systems. ► It depends only on adenine content and is independent of codon usage. ► In contrast, translation is inhibited in Pth defective cells when adenines are part of hungry codons.