Animal Mitochondrial DNA: An Extreme Example of Genetic Economy

摘要: Publisher Summary This chapter describes animal mitochondrial DNA. It focuses on the aspects of structure, function, and evolution DNA (mtDNA). also explores questions raised by recent unravelling genetic code primary structure gene organization mtDNA. The most conspicuous among features mtDNA from cells, yeast, filamentous fungi, is use UGA as a tryptophan codon rather than stop codon. There are differences between individual systems, even within same philogenetic group. In mammalian, but not in fungal mitochondria, besides AUG, AUA, AUU, AUC can function initiator codons; this role, AUU may indeed be read N-formyl-methionyl-tRNA thus for N-formyl-methionine, like AUG AUA. case mammalian tRNAs where C first position anticodon, U, enables it to pair with A G third position. all cells so far analyzed form circular molecules relatively uniform length, their sizes ranging 15.7 19.5 kb.