Contesting the evidence for -1 frameshifting in immune-functioning C-C chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) - the HIV-1 co-receptor

During the decoding of a subset of mRNAs a proportion of ribosomes productively shift to the -1 reading frame at a specific, slippage-prone site1. While the great majority of occurrences of the \"Programmed -1 Ribosomal Frameshifting\" (-1 PRF) involve viruses2, other mobile elements or retroelements1, a dramatic instance of utilized human cellular -1 frameshifting in a non-retroelement derived mRNA has been reported. The mRNA for which -1 frameshifting was claimed due to a stimulatory pseudoknot is that which encodes immune functioning C-C chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5), the HIV-1 co-receptor3. The publication ascribed the importance of the reporter CCR5 mRNA frameshifting directing translating ribosomes to a premature termination codon leading to mRNA destabilization via the nonsense-mediated decay pathway (NMD), rather than creating a C- ...