Errors in translation decoding are regulated by tRNA wobbling at all three codon positions.

Sixty-four tRNA sets are summarized and specified in parallel with codon degeneracy (left bottom and central). Faithful or misincorporated protein can result from decoding by cognate or near-cognate tRNA at position 3. For eight missing tRNAANN (yellow text), NNU•tRNAUNN wobble-dependent misdecoding by near-cognate tRNAs mainly occurs at the two box (I–VI) and six box tRNA sets (arginine-serine misincorporation) (VII). For seven missing tRNAGNN (red text), NNC codons will be decoded by cognate tRNAs without amino acid misincorporation (VIII) because they happen at the four and six box tRNA sets. Since leucine and phenylalanine share UUN codon, leucine-phenylalanine misincorporation may occur across the six and two box tRNA sets. Besides wobbling at position 3, mRNA codons can be falsely decoded by “far-cognate” tRNA at position 1 and 2 (in the text). Missing tRNAs are indicated as question mark. Individual wobble and misdecoding are labeled as green and red text, respectively. tRNA, transfer RNA.