The Molecular Basis of Wobbling: An Alternative Hypothesis

✍ Scribed by Wolfgang Pluhar

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 432 KB
• Volume: 169
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5193
• DOI: 10.1006/jtbi.1994.1151

✦ Synopsis

The molecular basis of Crick's wobble hypothesis rests upon the assumption that the wobble base (base closest to the (5^{\prime})-end of the anticodon) is able to shift its position within the anticodon by (\pm 2.5 \AA). Since there are no experimental clues that such shifts do indeed occur, an alternative hypothesis is proposed. It is based upon the observation that a tertiary bond within the tRNA, the C56/G19-bond, is a modified Watson-Crick-bond with the peculiarity of uneven distances between the points of Watson-Crick-contact. Furthermore it is pointed out that C56, as far as its relation to the ribose-phosphate-backbone is concerned, bears a definite resemblance to the wobble base. On these grounds, the C56/G19-bond is discussed as the possible model for all molecular wobble constellations, rendering invalid the need for any shifts within the ribose-phosphate backbone of the anticodonic loop.