What is Shine-Dalgarno

Shine-Dalgarno is a short nucleotide sequence found in the mRNA of prokaryotic organisms, typically located 6-10 nucleotides upstream of the start codon (AUG) of a gene. It plays a role in translation initiation by binding to the complementary sequence on the small ribosomal subunit, helping to position the ribosome at the correct location for translation to begin. The Shine-Dalgarno sequence is not present in eukaryotic mRNA, which instead uses a different mechanism for translation initiation.