The Contribution of Frameshift Translation to the Generation of Novel Human Proteins

Kohji Okamura, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
Stephen W Scherer, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada

Published online: December 2007

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0020792

The creation of novel proteins is not simply ascribed to duplication of homologous sequences, but can be largely explained by frameshift translation. A deficiency of the TpA dinucleotide in protein-coding deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences renders them tolerant of frameshift mutations by minimizing the opportunity for premature stop codons, and involvement of both strands can increase genomic complexity. This supports the suggestion that new coding sequences evolve from existing or ancestral exons rather than from nonexonic sequences.

Keywords: protein-coding sequence; frameshift; TpA dinucleotide; termination codon; intrastrand parity in DNA

Figure 1. Designation of the six reading frames, viz. RF0, RF1, RF2, RF3, RF4 and RF5. Although peptide sequences of RF0 are the actual gene products, others are virtual sequences translated in silico to search for frameshift translation. Termination codons in the virtual sequences are transliterated to ‘X’ for subsequent BLASTP analysis. Note that RF5 is the opposite frame that reads the same three-nucleotide position as the original frame and that RF0 and RF3 share the first two-nucleotide position.
Figure 2. Classification of duplications followed by frameshift events that have led to structural divergence. In all depictions, hatched marks highlight protein-coding regions that have undergone a frameshift creating diverged protein sequences. Regions of homology within the same frame are marked in grey, while unique sequence is marked in black. Arrows indicate transcription orientation. (a) Tandem duplications. (b) Large gene families arising through multiple duplications. (c) Interspersed duplications. (d) Retrotranspositions. (e) Sense overlapping transcripts. (f) Antisense overlapping transcripts. (g) Internal frameshifts. (h) Alternatively spliced variants.
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Related Sub-Topics:

Evolutionary Genomics | Molecular Evolution | Evolutionary Processes | Protein Evolution
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Article Title: The Contribution of Frameshift Translation to the Generation of Novel Human Proteins
 
How to Cite close
Okamura, Kohji, and Scherer, Stephen W(Dec 2007) The Contribution of Frameshift Translation to the Generation of Novel Human Proteins. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0020792]