Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1989 Apr;28(4):271-8.
doi: 10.1007/BF02103422.

Codon reassignment (codon capture) in evolution

Affiliations

Codon reassignment (codon capture) in evolution

S Osawa et al. J Mol Evol. 1989 Apr.

Abstract

The genetic code, once thought to be "frozen," shows variations from the universal code. Variations are found in mitochondria, Mycoplasma, and ciliated protozoa. The variations result from reassignment of codons, especially stop codons. The reassignments take place by disappearance of a codon from coding sequences, followed by its reappearance in a new role. Simultaneously, a changed anticodon must appear. We discuss the role of directional mutation pressure in the events, and we also describe the possibility that such events have taken place during early evolution of the genetic code and can occur during its present evolution.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1987;52:769-76 - PubMed
    1. Nature. 1981 Apr 9;290(5806):457-65 - PubMed
    1. Cell. 1981 Nov;26(3 Pt 1):315-23 - PubMed
    1. Trends Genet. 1988 Jul;4(7):191-8 - PubMed
    1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Nov;84(21):7398-402 - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources