Tissue-specific dynamic codon redefinition in <i>Drosophila</i>
Andrew M. Hudson, Nicholas L. Szabo, Gary Loughran, Norma M. Wills, John F. Atkins, Lynn Cooley
Abstract
Significance Here we describe efficient, developmentally regulated stop codon readthrough of the Drosophila kelch gene. Stop codon readthrough is a form of translational recoding in which a UGA, UAG, or UAA codon is redefined as a sense codon, allowing translation to continue. We show that readthrough of the kelch stop codon occurs at highest efficiency specifically in neurons of the central nervous system (CNS), and we define a short sequence near the kelch ORF1 UGA codon that stimulates efficient readthrough. We also show that stop codon readthrough for three additional genes occurs with high efficiency in the CNS, suggesting that stop codon readthrough may contribute significantly to the neuronal proteome.