Abstract
Sequences of 118 mRNAs of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in the GenBank data base were compiled to examine the consensus sequence surrounding the AUG translation initiation codon. The consensus sequence for C. reinhardtii was found to be gc(A/C)A(A/C)(A/C)AUGGC. The AUG context of chloroplast proteins (nuclear coded) and non-chloroplast proteins were compared by a separate compilation, and some distinctive features in AUG context of chloroplast proteins were found.