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Wobble Pair

Encyclopedia of Astrobiology

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Definition

A wobble pair, or wobble base pair, is a hydrogen-bonded pairing between two nucleotides generally occurring between two RNA molecules. These base pairs are geometrically distinct from the canonical Watson-Crick-type base-pairing. The main wobble base pairs are hypoxanthine-uracil (I-U, where I represents inosine, the nucleoside formed from hypoxanthine), guanine-uracil (G-U), hypoxanthine-adenine (I-A), and hypoxanthine-cytosine (I-C). Wobble base pairs are of comparable thermodynamic stability to Watson-Crick base pairs. Wobble base pairs occur frequently in RNA secondary structure and are important for proper translation of the genetic code.

In 1966, Francis Crick proposed the Wobble hypothesis to account for the fact that most organisms do not seem to have as many tRNA molecules as would be required for complete translation of the genetic code. There are 64 possible codons in the genetic code. During translation, each of these codons requires a tRNA molecule with a...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1-IE-1, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan

    Henderson James (Jim) Cleaves II

  2. Institute for Advanced Study, 1 Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA

    Henderson James (Jim) Cleaves II

  3. Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, 2800 Woodley Rd. NW #544, Washington, DC, 20008, USA

    Henderson James (Jim) Cleaves II

  4. Center for Chemical Evolution, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Henderson James (Jim) Cleaves II

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  1. Henderson James (Jim) Cleaves II
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Correspondence to Henderson James (Jim) Cleaves II .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  2. Labo. d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB), Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers (OASU), Floirac CX, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  3. Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Inst. Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain

    José Cernicharo Quintanilla

  4. Geophysical Lab., Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Henderson James Cleaves

  5. Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    William M. Irvine

  6. Dépt. Sc. de la Terre et de l’Atmosphère, Université du Québec, Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Daniele Pinti

  7. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES) DPI/E2U, Paris CX, France

    Michel Viso

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Cleaves, H.J.(. (2014). Wobble Pair. In: Amils, R., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_5248-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_5248-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

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  1. Latest

    Wobble Pair
    Published:
    25 December 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_5248-2

  2. Original

    Wobble Pair
    Published:
    16 April 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_5248-1

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