Retapamulin-Assisted Ribosome Profiling Reveals the Alternative Bacterial Proteome (Molecular Cell)

Meydan et al. report that the antibiotic retapamulin arrests bacterial ribosomes specifically at start codons. Retapamulin-assisted ribosome profiling detects known start sites but also reveals multiple cryptic sites within or outside the coding regions. Translation from internal start sites may lead to generation of functional proteins or play a regulatory role.