Predominance of six different hexanucleotide recoding signals 3' of read-through stop codons.
Redefinition of UAG, UAA and UGA to specify a standard amino acid occurs in response to recoding signals present in a minority of mRNAs. This 'read-through' is in competition with termination and is utilized for gene expression. One of the recoding signals known to stimulate read-through is a hexanucleotide sequence of the form CARYYA 3' adjacent to the stop codon. The present work finds that of the 91 unique viral sequences annotated as read-through, 90% had one of six of the 64 possible codons immediately 3' of the read-through stop codon. The relative efficiency of these read-through contexts in mammalian tissue culture cells has been determined using a dual luciferase fusion reporter. The relative importance of the identity of several individual nucleotides in the different hexanucleotides is complex.
Harrell
Lance
L
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA.
Melcher
Ulrich
U
Atkins
John F
JF
D024509:3' Flanking Region; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D018388:Codon, Terminator; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D008156:Luciferases / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D010443:Peptide Chain Termination, Translational; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D012265:Ribonucleotides / Q000032:analysis
D018388:Codon, Terminator; D012367:RNA, Viral; D012265:Ribonucleotides; D008156:Luciferases