Question

In 1952, the world’s first nuclear reactor meltdown took place at Canada’s Chalk River experimental nuclear station, with a significant release of radioactivity to the surrounding environment. (A U.S. Navy nuclear Engineer named Jimmy Carter participated in the cleanup). As part of a study of the biological effects of the meltdown, microbiologists isolated E.coli strains for analysis. Eventually, one of them was found to have a mutation in the gene encoding a tRNA-tyr. The anticodon of this tyr tRNA was changed from 3’-AUG-5’ to 3’-AUC-5’.

1. Which codon of the genetic code would you expect this tRNA to “match” (hybridize to in the A site of the ribosome) on an mRNA and what do you predict would be the result of the mutation on protein synthesis??

Answer 1