Standards - definitions, symbols, nucleotides, codons, amino acids (v2.0)


Last modified November 16, 2015

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Content


Definitions

for the description of sequence variants the following definitions are used

DNA/RNA

Protein


Characters used

Below an overview of all different characters and signs used in the description of sequence variants with their meaning.


Nucleotides (DNA / RNA)

For the complete and official list with further details go to IUPAC-IUBMB or NCBI site.

DNA

Symbol Meaning Description
A A Adenine 
C C Cytosine
G G Guanine
T T Thymine
     
B C, G or T not-A (B follows A in alphabet)
D A, G or T not-C (D follows C in alphabet)
H A, C or T not-G (H follows G in alphabet)
K G or T Keto
M A or C aMino
N A, C, G or T  aNy
R A or G puRine
S G or C Strong interaction (3 H-bonds)
V A, C or G not-T / not-U ( V follows U  in alphabet)
W A or T Weak interaction (2 H-bonds)
Y C or T pYrimidine
  Used in alignments only
X A, C, G or T  masked nucleotide
- none gap of indeterminate length

RNA

Symbol Meaning Description
a A Adenosine
c C Cytidine
g G Guanosine
u U Uridine
     
b c, g or u not-a (b follows a in alphabet)
d a, g or u not-c (d follows c in alphabet)
h a, c or u not-g (h follows g in alphabet)
k g or u keto
m a or c amino
n a, c, g or u  any
r a or g purine
s g or c strong interaction (3 H-bonds)
v a, c or g not-u ( v follows u  in alphabet)
w a or u weak interaction (2 H-bonds)
y c or u pyrimidine

Genetic code

NOTE:  '*' (alternatively 'Ter') is used to indicate a translation stop codon (replacing the 'X' used previously). To support translation from a DNA sequence a "T" is used in the codons although in nature RNA is translated so the codons contain U's. 

Nucleotide position in codon
first second third
  T C A G
T TTT - Phe
TTC - Phe
TTA - Leu
TTG - Leu
TCT - Ser
TCC - Ser
TCA - Ser
TCG - Ser
TAT - Tyr
TAC - Tyr
 TAA - */Ter
 TAG - */Ter
TGT - Cys
TGC - Cys
TGA - */Ter
TGG - Trp
T
C
A
G
C CTT - Leu
CTC - Leu
CTA - Leu
CTG - Leu
CCT - Pro
CCC - Pro
CCA - Pro
CCG - Pro
CAT - His
CAC - His
CAA - Gln
CAG - Gln
CGT - Arg
CGC - Arg
CGA - Arg
CGG - Arg
T
C
A
G
A ATT - Ile
ATC - Ile
ATA - Ile
ATG - Met
ACT - Thr
ACC - Thr
ACA - Thr
ACG - Thr
AAT - Asn
AAC - Asn
AAA - Lys
AAG - Lys
AGT - Ser
AGC - Ser
AGA - Arg
AGG - Arg
T
C
A
G
G GTT - Val
GTC - Val
GTA - Val
GTG - Val
GCT - Ala
GCC - Ala
GCA - Ala
GCG - Ala
GAT - Asp
GAC - Asp
GAA - Glu
GAG - Glu
GGT - Gly
GGC - Gly
GGA - Gly
GGG - Gly
T
C
A
G

Amino acid descriptions

For the complete and official list with further details go to IUPAC-IUBMB or NCBI site. (NOTE: formula-images were copied from the IUPAC-IUBMB site)

One letter
code
Three letter
code
Amino acid Possible codons Systemic name Formula
A Ala Alanine GCA, GCC,
GCG, GCT
2-Aminopropanoic acid CH3-CH(NH2)-COOH
B Asx Aspartic acid
or Asparagine
AAC, AAT,
GAC, GAT


C Cys Cysteine TGC, TGT 2-Amino-3-mercaptopropanoic acid HS-CH2-CH(NH2)-COOH
D Asp Aspartic acid GAC, GAT 2-Aminobutanedioic acid HOOC-CH2-CH(NH2)-COOH
E Glu Glutamic acid GAA, GAG 2-Aminopentanedioic acid HOOC-[CH2]2-CH(NH2)-COOH
F Phe Phenylalanine TTC, TTT 2-Amino-3-phenylpropanoic acid C6H5-CH2-CH(NH2)-COOH
G Gly Glycine GGA, GGC,
GGG, GGT
Aminoethanoic acid CH2(NH2)-COOH
H His Histidine CAC, CAT 2-Amino-3-(1H-imidazol-4-yl)-propanoic acid
I Ile Isoleucine ATA, ATC, ATT 2-Amino-3-methylpentanoic acid C2H5-CH(CH3)-CH(NH2)-COOH
K Lys Lysine AAA, AAG 2,6-Diaminohexanoic acid H2N-[CH2]4-CH(NH2)-COOH
L Leu Leucine CTA, CTC, CTG,
CTT, TTA, TTG
2-Amino-4-methylpentanoic acid (CH3)2CH-CH2-CH(NH2)-COOH
M Met Methionine ATG
(translation initiation)
2-Amino-4-(methylthio)butanoic acid CH3-S-[CH2]2-CH(NH2)-COOH
N Asn Asparagine AAC, AAT 2-Amino-3-carbamoylpropanoic acid H2N-CO-CH2-CH(NH2)-COOH
P Pro Proline CCA, CCC,
CCG, CCT
Pyrrolidine-2-carboxylic acid
Q Gln Glutamine CAA, CAG 2-Amino-4-carbamoylbutanoic acid H2N-CO-[CH2]2-CH(NH2)-COOH
R Arg Arginine AGA, AGG, CGA,
CGC, CGG, CGT
2-Amino-5-guanidinopentanoic acid H2N-C(=NH)-NH-[CH2]3-CH(NH2)-COOH
S Ser Serine AGC, AGT, TCA,
TCC, TCG, TCT
2-Amino-3-hydroxypropanoic acid HO-CH2-CH(NH2)-COOH
T Thr Threonine ACA, ACC,
ACG, ACT
2-Amino-3-hydroxybutanoic acid CH3-CH(OH)-CH(NH2)-COOH
U Sec Selenocysteine TGA, ...
H2N-CH(COOH)--CH2-SeH
V Val Valine GTA, GTC,
GTG, GTT
2-Amino-3-methylbutanoic acid (CH3)2CH-CH(NH2)-COOH
W Trp Tryptophan TGG 2-Amino-3-(lH-indol-3-yl)-propanoic acid
X Xaa unknown or 
'other'
NNN

Y Tyr Tyrosine TAC, TAT 2-Amino-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propanoic acid
Z Glx Glutamic acid
or Glutamine



* *  (Ter) Termination TAA, TAG, TGA
(translation termination)
HGVS addition (V2.0)
  Used in alignments only
- - gap of indeterminate length

-

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