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Pseudogene rescue: an adaptive mechanism of codon reassignment
Author(s) -
JOHNSON L. J.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02027.x
Subject(s) - biology , pseudogene , genetic code , genetics , stop codon , population , nonsense mutation , nonsense , gene , extant taxon , mechanism (biology) , genome , evolutionary biology , harm , mutation , demography , philosophy , epistemology , missense mutation , sociology , political science , law
Alterations to the genetic code – codon reassignments – have occurred many times in life’s history, despite the fact that genomes are coadapted to their genetic codes and therefore alterations are likely to be maladaptive. A potential mechanism for adaptive codon reassignment, which could trigger either a temporary period of codon ambiguity or a permanent genetic code change, is the reactivation of a pseudogene by a nonsense suppressor mutant transfer RNA. I examine the population genetics of each stage of this process and find that pseudogene rescue is plausible and also readily explains some features of extant variability in genetic codes.