Live-cell single RNA imaging reveals bursts of translational frameshifting

Ribosomal frameshifting during the translation of RNA is implicated in both human disease and viral infection. While previous work has uncovered many mechanistic details about single RNA frameshifting kinetics in vitro, very little is known about how single RNA frameshift in living systems. To confront this problem, we have developed technology to quantify live-cell single RNA translation dynamics in frameshifted open reading frames. Applying this technology to RNA encoding the HIV-1 frameshift sequence reveals a small subset (~8%) of the translating pool robustly frameshift in living cells. Frameshifting RNA are preferentially in multi-RNA “translation factories,” are translated at about the same rate as non-frameshifting RNA (~2 aa/sec), and can continuously frameshift for more than four rounds of translation. Fits to a bursty model of frameshifting constrain frameshifting kinetic rates and demonstrate how ribosomal traffic jams contribute to the persistence of the frameshifting state. These data provide novel insight into retroviral frameshifting and could lead to new strategies to perturb the process in living cells.

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