amber mutation

Also found in: Encyclopedia.

am·ber mu·ta·tion

a mutation that results in the formation of the codon UAG, which results in the premature termination of a polypeptide chain. Compare: suppressor mutation.

amber mutation

Etymology: Ar, anbar, ambergris

a genetic alteration that causes the synthesis of a polypeptide chain to terminate prematurely because the triplet of nucleotides that normally codes for the next amino acid in the chain becomes uracil-adenine-guanine, the sequence that signals the end of the chain. This is one of three possible nonsense mutations.See also ochre mutation,opal mutation.

amber mutation

A mutation that creates an AMBER CODON.

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

strains insert an amino acid in response to an amber docon and may restore activity to any altered regulatory gene resulting from an amber mutation.

ISOLATION OF PHAGE P1 REGULATORY MUTANTS

The only bacteria that survived were those that incorporated an amino acid--either a natural or an introduced one--at the location of the amber mutation.

These bacteria already had an amber mutation in a gene that encodes barnase, a protein that kills bacteria.