Translational repression using BIV Tat peptideTAR RNA interaction in mammalian cellsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Materials and methods, Sfold structures, flow cytometry results, immunoblot, q-RT-PCR results, and DNA sequences. See DOI: 10.1039/c3cc43086c

We developed a strategy to create novel genetically encoded switches based on translational repression. We illustrated its efficacy by incorporating two copies of an RNA hairpin in the 5-untranslated region (UTR) of a target mRNA and demonstrating 7-fold translational repression upon expression of a ligand the BIV Tat peptide. We developed a strategy to create novel genetically encoded switches based on translational repression using the interaction between a ligand and its binding site in the 5-UTR.