A stomach cell line growing in nutrient broth has a mutation in the gene encoding a particular type of tRNA. Assuming the mutation is not lethal to the cells, explain why the amount of SIRT3 mRNA in this cell line is identical to the amount produced by a normal stomach (NS) cell line but the amount of SIRT3 protein is less than in the NS cells.
1 answer
The mutation in the gene encoding a particular type of tRNA affects the translation of the SIRT3 mRNA into protein. The mutation may cause the ribosomes to misread the mRNA, resulting in an incorrect amino acid sequence being produced. This incorrect sequence may cause the SIRT3 protein to be unstable and degraded more quickly than the normal SIRT3 protein produced by the NS cells. As a result, the amount of SIRT3 mRNA in the cell line with the mutation is the same as the NS cells, but the amount of SIRT3 protein is less.
1 answer