Figure 3

Decoding strategy in H. volcanii . The various sense codons of mRNA (from 5' to 3') are boxed according to their correspondence with one of the 20 amino acids. In each decoding box containing 1, 2, 3 or 4 synonymous codons are indicated the corresponding sequences of anticodon loop in tRNA (from nucleotide at the wobble position 34 to nucleotide at position 39, on the 3' side of the anticodon, the three first bases being the anticodon). A dash line means no tRNA with strictly complementary codon exists. The modified nucleotides are indicated in white under gray background. Abbreviations are the conventional ones as defined in [4] except for symbol C* in the case of one tRNA-Ile (C*AU) which correspond to a yet unknown modified cytosine at position 34. Likewise, symbol !U in the wobble position of several tRNAs correspond to a yet experimentally unidentified uridine derivative. In the case of tRNA-Gln, tRNA-Lys and tRNA-Glu, !U probably correspond to a mcm⁵s²U or a similar type of U-derivative (for details see text). Symbol * in front of a sequence means a Cm is present at position 32, while symbol # note the presence of an unexpected A instead of the usual pyrimidine C or U at position 32. No inosine has been found at the wobble position of any tRNA. The sequences indicated between brackets and in italics correspond to the tDNA sequence only. A number >2 on the right of the anticodon sequence means there exist 2 genes harboring the same anticodon on the genome. In all other cases, only one single gene exists (no redundancy). There is no tRNA-Sel/Sec coding for selenocysteine in H. volcanii. For more details see Additional files 1 and 2.