stop codon
Americannoun
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Any of three codons in a molecule of messenger RNA that do not code for an amino acid and thereby signal the termination of the synthesis of a protein. The three stop codons are UAA, UAG, and UGA, where U is uracil, A is adenine, and G is guanine.
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Also called termination codon
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It treats a particular three letter sequence, typically a stop codon that marks the end of a protein, in two different ways.
From Science Daily
Researchers had assumed that these organisms simply reassigned the UAG stop codon to represent pyrrolysine.
From Science Daily
"The UAG codon is like a fork in the road, where it can be interpreted either as a stop codon or as a pyrrolysine residue," Shalvarjian said.
From Science Daily
PL0344, only TGA functions as a stop codon -- although Dr McGowan found there are more TGA codons than expected in the ciliate's DNA, believed to compensate for the loss of the other two.
From Science Daily
The team modified the bacterium’s tRNAs so that when it reads the original stop codon—say, in the genome of an invading virus—it installs an inappropriate amino acid that impairs the viral protein.
From Science Magazine
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