The ability of UUU-UGA sequence to direct +1 frameshifting was further tested in a mammalian system in the context of the mammalian antizyme mRNA (i.e. in the presence of the 3¢ RNA pseudoknot and 5¢ stimulator). A BMV-coat-protein±antizyme 1 gene fusion construct, which has a TCC-TGA to TTT-TGA substitution, was transcribed and then translated in a rabbit reticulocyte lysate. Eleven percent frameshift ef®ciency was seen in the absence of exogenously added polyamines, 2.2 times the ef®ciency seen with the UCC-UGA transcript. The frameshift ef®ciency becomes 18% when 0.6 mM spermidine is added, which is 1.3 times that with the wild type (Matsufuji et al., 1995) . Similar results were obtained in cultured mammalian (Cos7) cells transfected with TTT-TGA mutant construct, the frameshift being higher than that of wild-type construct in both high-and lowpolyamine conditions (our unpublished results). These results demonstrate that the putative C.elegans frameshift site (UUU-UGA) is, if anything, shiftier than UCC-UGA in the antizyme 1 context and is subject to polyamine stimulation.