避免灾难性的突变准确地预测了氨基酸对的配对
1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA. peter.nonacs@gmail.com.
Journal of molecular evolution
|December 20, 2025
概括
遗传密码的进化通过战略性地放置氨基酸来最大限度地减少破坏性DNA突变. 这种"灾难性突变最小化假设"解释了现代的密码分配,并提出了一种具有双重密码的祖先代码.
科学领域:
- 分子生物学分子生物学
- 进化生物学 进化生物学
- 遗传学 是一个遗传学.
背景情况:
- DNA编码突变,特别是涉及停止信号或囊蛋白,可以严重破坏蛋白质结构和功能.
- 遗传密码的早期进化可能涉及缓解这种潜在灾难性突变的机制.
研究的目的:
- 提出并测试"灾难性突变最小化假设" (CMMH) 对于遗传密码的进化.
- 研究如何将突变成本最小化影响了氨基酸-codon分配.
主要方法:
- 开发了一个早期遗传代码进化的假设场景,其中包含了Stop代码.
- 分析了基于最小化网络范围内的突变成本的编码子分配.
- 将CMMH的预测特征与现代遗传代码和随机代码网络进行比较.
主要成果:
- 该CMMH预测氨酸的接近停止密码子,创建一个高风险的邻居.
- 对于16种氨基酸的codon分配与CMMH预测一致.
- 提出了一种具有13-14氨基酸的祖先双重编码码,显示出对灾难性突变的高耐药性.
结论:
- 现代遗传密码很可能是通过对现有能力进行微调,而不是通过彻底增加复杂性,从一个先例代码进化而来.
- 该CMMH提供了一个节的解释对代码的代码分配和早期遗传代码的结构.
- 祖先的代码拥有诸如氨基酸多样性,启动/停止信号和蛋白质折叠能力等基本特征.
相关概念视频
Improving Translational Accuracy
14.0K
Base complementarity between the three base pairs of mRNA codon and the tRNA anticodon is not a failsafe mechanism. Inaccuracies can range from a single mismatch to no correct base pairing at all. The free energy difference between the correct and nearly correct base pairs can be as small as 3 kcal/ mol. With complementarity being the only proofreading step, the estimated error frequency would be one wrong amino acid in every 100 amino acids incorporated. However, error frequencies observed in...
14.0K
Improving Translational Accuracy
3.5K
3.5K
Mismatch Repair
6.2K
Organisms are capable of detecting and fixing nucleotide mismatches that occur during DNA replication. This sophisticated process requires identifying the new strand and replacing the erroneous bases with correct nucleotides. Mismatch repair is coordinated by many proteins in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
The Mutator Protein Family Plays a Key Role in DNA Mismatch Repair
The human genome has more than 3 billion base pairs of DNA per cell. Prior to cell division, that vast amount of genetic...
The Mutator Protein Family Plays a Key Role in DNA Mismatch Repair
The human genome has more than 3 billion base pairs of DNA per cell. Prior to cell division, that vast amount of genetic...
6.2K
Mismatch Repair
43.4K
Overview
43.4K
Genome Copying Errors
5.0K
DNA replication is a well-evolved process that copies millions of base pairs with high fidelity during each cell division. Occasionally a wrong base or a long stretch of wrong bases may get added to the daughter strands. If the errors are left unchecked, cells might accumulate several mutations that might endanger their survival. Therefore, the copying errors are checked and repaired at three levels.
5.0K
From DNA to Protein
21.8K
The flow of genetic information in cells from DNA to mRNA to protein is described by the central dogma, which states that genes specify the sequence of mRNAs, which in turn specify the sequence of amino acids making up all proteins. The decoding of one molecule to another is performed by specific proteins and RNAs. Because the information stored in DNA is so central to cellular function, it makes intuitive sense that the cell would make mRNA copies of this information for protein synthesis...
21.8K


