Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Gene-targeted Random Mutagenesis to Select Heterochromatin-destabilizing Proteasome Mutants in Fission Yeast
Published on: May 15, 2018
Chain termination codons and polymerase-induced frameshift mutations
1Centre for Protein Engineering and Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Medical Research Council, Cambridge, UK. jlj@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk
Abstract:
The consensus sequence for single-base deletions in non-reiterated runs during in vitro DNA-dependent DNA polymerisation is refined using data available in the literature. This leads to the observation that chain termination codons are hotspots for single-base deletions. The evolutionary implications are discussed in two models which differ in whether polymerases evolved while the genetic code emerged or after the genetic code was fixed. A possible answer to the question 'Why are stop codons just what they are?' is suggested.
Related Concept Videos
Mutations
Genome Copying Errors
Exon Recombination
Exon shuffling follows “splice frame rules.” Each exon has three reading...
Mutations
Chromosomal Alterations Are Large-Scale Mutations
While point mutations are changes in a single nucleotide in...
Spontaneous and Induced Mutations
Point and Frameshift Mutations

