transcription in prokaryotes. - is whole shine-dalgarno sequence required? (Nov/26/2006 )

my vector doesnt contain the whole SD sequence upsteam of the start codon. it only has AGGA at most and some protocols state that more is requered. however i already transcribed it in E-coli and insoluble, degraded protein is produced (maybe it as nothing to do with that).

so my question is: can AGGA be considered as ribosome binding site? or it is not complete for in vitro translation? thanx a lot!

i'd say the more of the whole SD, the better the translation will be. the binding of the ribosome will be more tight, you should get more protein.