Sunday, April 12, 2015

Differences Among Coding for Amino Acids



It has been stressed that DNA codes for amino acids. For any of the 64 codons, or combination of three bases, there is a specified amino acid. Previously, it was believed that this language was universal for all organisms, as show in laboratory generations.  However, the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institution found that for uncultivated microbes codons differ in the amino acid they inscribe. The study zoned in on the three stop codons, UAA, UGA and UAG where the chain then terminates.

It was found that in other organisms the stop codons actually code for an amino acid, thus the chain continues. The research led by Eddy Rubin concluded that each of these three codons have been reassigned in various ways. For instance, Bacteria and Eukaryotas each redefined a different stop codon. Archaea showed no change to these three codons. This data builds on unexplored areas within the tree of life.

I found this article interesting as it related to the evaluation of all life on a microscopic level. Research within DNA has only increased in popularity , thus the differences among organisms is foretelling to our past. How do our codes for amino acids differ and why? Are some of these stop codons not essential to life or only fundamental for certain organisms? This study opens up question and reasoning for evolution of life.

The article can be found here.

1 comment:

  1. Great research by these scientists to discover this. It is as if some organisms have different DNA 'language' and we cannot assume all sequences code for the same amino acid.

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