Messenger RNA-ribonucleoprotein interaction during the initiation of protein synthesis.

The interaction of globin mRNA with proteins during translation has been investigated in order to establish whether and to what extent messenger-ribonucleoprotein complexes are involved in protein synthesis. We present evidence for the functional importance of two minor messenger RNA-associated proteins (55 kDa and 60 kDa) during the initiation of globin mRNA translation in reticulocyte lysates. The formation of an mRNA complex containing the major 78 kDa and 52 kDa messenger-ribonucleoproteins was not detected.