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Molecular mechanism for missense suppression in E. coli

Abstract

THE missense mutation trpA36 results in a Gly (GGA)→Arg (AGA) amino acid substitution at position 211 of the tryptophan synthetase A protein1. Suppressors of trpA36 have been derived by mutation in glyT, the gene specifying tRNAGGA/GGly 2, and in glyU, which specifies tRNAGGGGly 1 (refs 2–4). Transfer RNA from strains carrying either of the glyTsuA36 or glyUsuA36 alleles inserts glycine into polypeptides, in vitro and in vivo, in response to the arginine codon, AGA3,5,6. We report here a comparison of the nucleotide sequences of tRNAGGA/GGly 2 and tRNAsuA36(HA)Gly 2; the glyTsuA36(HA) mutation results in a C→U base change at the 3′-end of the anticodon of tRNAGGA/GGly 2, which causes a subsequent, enzyme-catalysed modification of the A directly adjacent to the 3′-end of the anticodon.

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ROBERTS, J., CARBON, J. Molecular mechanism for missense suppression in E. coli. Nature 250, 412–414 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/250412a0

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