An Ecological Basis for Dual Genetic Code Expansion in Marine Deltaproteobacteria.

ABSTRACT: Marine benthic environments may be shaped by anthropogenic and other localized events, leading to changes in microbial community composition evident decades after a disturbance. Marine sediments in particular harbor exceptional taxonomic diversity and can shed light on distinctive evolutionary strategies. Genetic code expansion is a strategy that increases the structural and functional diversity of proteins in cells, by repurposing stop codons to encode non-canonical amino acids: pyrrolysine (Pyl) and selenocysteine (Sec). Here, we report both a study of the microbiome at a deep sea industrial waste dumpsite and an unanticipated discovery of codon reassignment in its most abundant member, with potential ramifications for interpreting microbial interactions with ocean-dumped wastes. The gen

SUBMITTER: Kivenson V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8318568 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature