Evolution of translational initiation: new insights from the archaea

Recent in silico and experimental data have shed new light on the mechanism and components of translational initiation in archaea. The available data about the structure of archaeal mRNAs, mRNA/ribosome interaction and archaeal translation initiation factors are reviewed and analyzed in the conceptual framework of the evolution of translational initiation. A model of the initiation step of translation in the Last Universal Common Ancestor of extant cells is presented and discussed.