Some organisms adopt an unusual strategy to make sure the genetic code is translated accurately, according to study that will be published tomorrow in linkurl:__Molecular Cell.__;http://www.molecule.org/ These findings suggest that ancient organisms may have used different techniques to maintain accuracy in translation before settling on the predominant strategy. In most organisms, the start of translation is coded by the sequence AUG. This sequence triggers the binding of tRNA that carries the amino acid methionine. Unfortunately, AUG resembles another code for a different amino acid: AUA, which codes for isoleucine. This subtle difference in the third -- or "wobble" -- position means that there's room for error. In most organisms, to avoid mistaking AUG for AUA, a chemical modification is added to the third position of the isoleucine tRNA. This modification tells the enzyme ARS that it should attach the isoleucine amino acid to the tRNA. Without the modification, ARS will...
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