A possible role of the 5' terminal sequence of 16S ribosomal RNA in the recognition of initiation sequences for protein synthesis.

Extensive complementarity is found between the 5' end of 16S ribosomal RNA and protein synthesis initiation sites of bacteriophage RNA. Hybrids can be constructed from base sequences of 16S-RNA and two initiation regions on phage RNA. A model is proposed for the involvement of 16S-RNA in the unfolding of hairpin loops containing the initiation codon AUG.