Protein Synthesis and The Genetic Code
Protein Synthesis and The Genetic Code
Protein Synthesis and The Genetic Code
initiation
Cap codon
5’ untranslated region
5’ m7Gppp AUG
AAUAAA (AAAA)n 3’
poly(A)
tail
Ribosomes
• prokaryotic ribosome
• eukaryotic ribosome
nascent
polypeptide
N
N
5’ AUG UGA
polysome
=
- -
H2N-C-C-OH 3’
H
ATP
adenylated (activated)
RO amino acid
=
- -
H2N-C-C-O-P-O-ribose-adenine
PPi
H
AMP
RO
=
- -
H2N-C-C-O
Amino acid activation H
and
tRNA charging aminoacyl
(charged)
tRNA
The genetic code
CUA
mRNA G
5’ 3’
Wobble Interactions
• eukaryotic mRNA
5’ cap AUG AUG
internal (downstream) Met codon
initiation can only occur at cannot serve as an initiation site
first AUG codon downstream of the 5’ cap
Reading frame
• reading frame is determined by the AUG initiation codon
• every subsequent triplet is read as a codon until reaching a stop codon
...AGAGCGGA.AUG.GCA.GAG.UGG.CUA.AGC.AUG.UCG.UGA.UCGAAUAAA...
MET.ALA.GLU.TRP.LEU.SER.MET.SER
• a frameshift mutation
...AGAGCGGA.AUG.GCA.GA .UGG.CUA.AGC.AUG.UCG.UGA.UCGAAUAAA...
• the new reading frame results in the wrong amino acid sequence and
the formation of a truncated protein
...AGAGCGGA.AUG.GCA.GAU.GGC.UAA.GCAUGUCGUGAUCGAAUAAA...
MET.ALA.ASP.GLY
Mutations affecting translation
• hemoglobin Wayne (3’ terminal frameshift mutation)
• silent mutations (e.g., CUA Leu to CUG Leu) do not affect translation