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No stopping with a short-stem transfer RNA

Messenger RNA has 64 possible triplet sequences, or codons, three of which usually terminate protein synthesis. But some organisms can use all codons to specify amino acids, thanks in part to a surprising feature of a transfer RNA.
  1. Pavel V. Baranov

    1. Pavel V. Baranov is in the School of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University College Cork, Cork T12 XF62, Ireland.

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  2. John F. Atkins

    1. John F. Atkins is in the School of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University College Cork, Cork T12 XF62, Ireland.

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When a protein is made, a chain of amino-acid residues is built on the basis of messenger RNA instructions, and this construction must be brought to a stop appropriately. Writing in Nature, Kachale et al.1 report the discovery of an unusual mechanism that breaks with the conventional way in which the mRNA decoding process occurs.

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Nature 613, 631-632 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04585-5

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 24 February 2023: The original version of this News & Views showed the placement of amino acid on tRNAs incorrectly. The figure has been corrected.

References

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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