  This work applies the methods of signal processing and the concepts of
control system design to model the maintenance and modulation of reading frame
in the process of protein synthesis. The model shows how translational speed
can modulate translational accuracy to accomplish programmed +1 frameshifts and
could have implications for the regulation of translational efficiency. A
series of free energy estimates were calculated from the ribosome's interaction
with mRNA sequences during the process of translation elongation in eubacteria.
A sinusoidal pattern of roughly constant phase was detected in these free
energy signals. Signal phase was identified as a useful parameter for locating
programmed +1 frameshifts encoded in bacterial genes for release factor 2. A
displacement model was developed that captures the mechanism of frameshift
based on the information content of the signal parameters and the relative
abundance of tRNA in the bacterial cell. Results are presented using
experimentally verified frameshift genes across eubacteria.
