Nonsense Mutations and Suppression

Muriel B Herrington, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Published online: May 2003

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0000824

A nonsense mutation occurs when a codon that codes for an amino acid is changed to a chain-termination codon. Informational suppression of a nonsense mutation occurs when changes in the translation apparatus enable the cell to insert an amino acid in response to the nonsense codon, resulting in a wild-type or near wild-type phenotype.

Keywords: tRNA; suppression; translation; ribosome; accuracy

Figure 1. The translating ribosome. The aminoacyl-tRNA is bound in the A-site and thepeptidyl-tRNA in the P-site. The growing peptide chain is shown. The approximate locations of E. coli ribosomal proteins S4 and S5 and nucleotide G2447 of the 23S ribosomal RNA are indicated. Nucleotide changes in the 16S ribosomal RNA that enhance misreading are near the S4 and S5 proteins.
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 References
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    Eggertsson G and Söll D (1988) Transfer ribonucleic acid-mediated suppression of termination codons in Escherichia coli. Microbiological Reviews 52: 354–374.
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    Thompson J, Kim DF, O'Connor M, et al. (2001) Analysis of mutations at residues A2451 and G2447 of 23S rRNA in the peptidyltransferase active site of the 50S ribosomal subunit. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 98: 9002–9007.
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 Further Reading
    book Engelberg-Kulka H and Schoulaker-Schwarz R (1996) "Suppression of termination codons". In: Neidhardt FC (ed.) Escherichia coli Salmonella: Cellular and Molecular Biology, pp. 909–924. Washington DC: ASM Press.
    book Kurland CG, Hughes D and Ehrenberg M (1996) "Limitations of translational accuracy". In: Neidhardt FC (ed.) Escherichia coli and Salmonella: Cellular and Molecular Biology, pp. 979–1004. Washington DC: ASM Press.
    book Murgola EJ (1994) "Translational suppression: when two wrongs DO make a right". In: Söll D and RajBhandary UL (eds) tRNA: Structure, Biosynthesis and Function, pp. 491–510. Washington DC: ASM Press.
    Parker J (1989) Errors and alternatives in reading the universal genetic code. Microbiological Reviews 53: 273–298.

Related Sub-Topics:

Translation and Protein synthesis | Protein Folding, Evolution and Degradation | Mutational Mechanisms of Genetic Disease | Gene and Genome Structure and Organisation | Translation of RNA | Translational Regulation | RNA Structure and Function | Genetic Code | DNA Damage and Repair
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Article Title: Nonsense Mutations and Suppression
 
How to Cite close
Herrington, Muriel B(May 2003) Nonsense Mutations and Suppression. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0000824]