Lactis-leu-phe leader RNA motif

They contain a short open reading frame (ORF) that contains many codons for leucine or phenylalanine.

However, when cellular concentrations of the relevant amino acid is low, ribosome stalling leads to an alternate structure that enables downstream gene expression.

Leu/phe leaders of this structure are known only in the species Lactococcus lactis, and is essentially the same as a previously characterized leucine leader in the same species.

[2] Additional homologs were uncovered that contain phenylalanine codons instead of leucine codons, and are upstream of genes involved in the synthesis of phenylalanine, instead of leucine.

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