Rare Codons Remove Roadblocks to Protein Production (IMAGE)
Caption
When rare "words" (codons) are present near the start of bacterial genes, working copies of the gene don't as readily into structures that block protein production. To find out the rare words themselves or lack of roadblocks increased protein production, Wyss Institute researchers synthesized 14,000 snippets of DNA with rare codons, roadblocks, both, or neither (individual pixels in this diagram), inserted them into genes, and measured how much protein they produced. Those with rare codons and roadblocks no longer made more protein (green pixels). That showed that rare codons work by removing roadblocks.
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Wyss Institute
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Credit: Wyss Institute
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