Riboswitches are generally considered to have been discovered in about 2002. But a comparable regulatory process was

Question:

Riboswitches are generally considered to have been discovered in about 2002. But a comparable regulatory process was described much earlier, when Nomura et al. ( Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 77:7084 (1980)) described the regulation of ribosomal protein synthesis carried out by binding of ribosomal proteins to their own mRNAs (Figure 26.25). Was the riboswitch actually discovered years earlier? Discuss similarities and differences in control of ribosomal protein synthesis and riboswitch regulation as discussed in this chapter.