Codon Bias Can Determine Sorting of a Potassium Channel Protein
- Due to the redundancy of the genetic code most amino acids are encoded by multiple synonymous codons. It has been proposed that a biased frequency of synonymous codons can affect the function of proteins by modulating distinct steps in transcription, translation and folding. Here, we use two similar prototype K+ channels as model systems to examine whether codon choice has an impact on protein sorting. By monitoring transient expression of GFP-tagged channels in mammalian cells, we find that one of the two channels is sorted in a codon and cell cycle-dependent manner either to mitochondria or the secretory pathway. The data establish that a gene with either rare or frequent codons serves, together with a cell-state-dependent decoding mechanism, as a secondary code for sorting intracellular membrane proteins.
| Document Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Author: | Anja J. Engel, Marina Kithil, Markus Langhans, Oliver Rauh, Matea Cartolano, James L. van Etten, Anna Moroni, Gerhard Thiel |
| Parent Title (English): | Cells |
| Volume: | 10 |
| Issue: | 5 |
| Article Number: | 1128 |
| ISSN: | 2073-4409 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10051128 |
| PMID: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34066987 |
| Date of first publication: | 2021/05/07 |
| Keyword: | Codon Usage; dual sorting; effect of synonymous codon exchange; membrane protein sorting |
| Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC): | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 57 Biowissenschaften; Biologie / 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie |
| Entry in this database: | 2024/09/17 |
