The Human Mitochondrial Genetic Code

Translations: ATP6, ATP8, ND1, ND2, ND3, ND4, ND4L, ND5, ND6, CO1, CO2, CO3, CytB.

Note that, unlike the universal code, UGA codes for tryptophan instead of termination, AUA codes for methionine instead of isoleucine, and AGA and AGG are terminators instead of coding for arginine.
* AUU codes for isoleucine during elongation but can code for methionine for initiation (ND2) See Fearnley & Walker (1987) and Peabody (1989).

Anderson, S., Bankier, A.T., Barrell, B.G., de Bruijn, M.H., Coulson, A.R., Drouin, J., Eperon, I.C., Nierlich, D.P., Roe, B.A., Sanger, F., Schreier, P.H., Smith, A.J., Staden, R. and Young, I.G. (1981). "Sequence and organization of the human mitochondrial genome." Nature 290(5806):457-465.

Barrell, B.G., Anderson, S., Bankier, A.T., de Bruijn, M.H., Chen, E., Coulson, A.R., Drouin, J., Eperon, I.C., Nierlich, D.P., Roe, B.A., Sanger, F., Schreier, P.H., Smith, A.J., Staden, R. and Young, I.G. (1980). "Different pattern of codon recognition by mammalian mitochondrial tRNAs." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 77(6):3164-3166.

Barrell, B.G., Bankier, A.T. and Drouin, J. (1979). "A different genetic code in human mitochondria." Nature 282(5735):189-194.

Fearnley, I. M. and Walker, J. E. (1987). "Initiation codons in mammalian mitochondria: differences in genetic code in the organelle." Biochemistry 26(25):8247-8251.

Knight, R.D., Freeland, S.J. and Landweber, L.F. (2001). "Rewiring the keyboard: evolvability of the genetic code." Nature Reviews Genetics 2(1):49-58.

Knight, R.D., Landweber, L.F. and Yarus, M. (2001). "How mitochondria redefine the code." Journal of Molecular Evolution 53(4-5):299-313.

Peabody, D. S. (1989). "Translation initiation at non-AUG triplets in mammalian cells." Journal of Biological Chemistry 264(9):5031-5035.

Yokobori, S., Suzuki, T. and Watanabe, K. (2001). "Genetic code variations in mitochondria: tRNA as a major determinant of genetic code plasticity." Journal of Molecular Evolution 53(4-5):314-326.