The genetic code of CondylostomaCondylostoma magnum is a ciliate with a very peculiar genetic code. Translation termination occurs by positional recoding: stop codons work as such only when located close to the 3' of transcripts, and otherwise support amino acid insertion. In this artwork, mRNA translation is depicted with a musical metaphor. Musical notes in triplets represent codons, with colored circles representing the corresponding amino acids inserted. Note that two UAG codons (white triplets) are decoded differently: the first (left) is decoded as glutamine, the second (right) stop signals for elongation termination (broken red shape).
Illustration by Marzia Faranda. Concept by Marco Mariotti. Research paper: Heaphy et al., 2016, Mol Biol Evol, 33:2885–2889. This illustration contains a hidden message. Contact us if you find it! |