Deciphering the molecular mechanism of stop codon readthrough

International audienceRecognition of the stop codon by the translation machinery is essential to terminating 12 translation at the right position and to synthesizing a protein of the correct size. Under certain 13 conditions, the stop codon can be recognized as a coding codon promoting translation, which 14 then terminates at a later stop codon. This event, called stop codon readthrough, occurs either 15 by error, due to a dedicated regulatory environment leading to generation of different protein 16 isoforms, or through the action of a readthrough compound. This review focuses on the 17 mechanisms of stop codon readthrough, the nucleotide and protein environments that 18 facilitate or inhibit it, and the therapeutic interest of stop codon readthrough in the treatment 19 of genetic diseases caused by nonsense mutations