Focus on the Internal Ribosome Entry Site(IRES):the Characteristics of IRES and its Latest Advances

Internal ribosome entry site(IRES)is a sequence element in the 5'UTR of mRNAs.Ribosome can bind and begin translating at this element of a transcript,without having to scan from the 5'-end.In this review,the history,classification and characteristics of IRES were described.The author's current understanding on the existence of IRES element inside the cell was presented also.