遗传密码子研究进展

作为生命信息的基本遗传单位，基因组遗传密码的破译对于人们加深对生命本质的认识具有重要的理论价值和现实意义。目前，遗传密码子的研究重心已由遗传密码子的破译及反常密码子的发现转入到遗传密码子的起源与进化及扩张等研究。遗传密码子的起源与进化是当今基因组学研究的热点命题之一，相关的学说、假设层出不穷，但尚未取得实质性突破。另一方面，无义密码子的再定义及遗传密码的扩张等研究却极大的丰富和发展了遗传密码子的科学内涵，推动了生命科学研究的发展。文章综述了遗传密码子的多态性、起源与进化、无义密码子的再定义及遗传密码的扩张等方面的研究进展，并就其应用价值作了评述，期待为其在基因组学、医学等相关领域的应用研究提供参考。

Advanced Studies on Genetic Code

As the fundamental element of inheritance information, the uncovery of secret of genetic code must play important roles either in theoretical research or practical application for human to deeply understand the essence of life. At present, the emphasis of genetic code research has been transferred from code decoding and discovery of codons with particularity characteristics to investigating its origination, evolution and expansion etc. The origination and evolution study of genetic code is known as one of the hottest fields in genomics research. As for this issue, many theories and hypothesis have been put forward, however no real progresses are made up to date. On the other hand, the redefinition of nonsense codons and expansion study of genetic code have greatly enriched and developed the primary scientific meanings of genetic code, which significantly promotes the development of life science research. In this paper, the recent progresses made with respect to polymorphism, origination, evolution, redefinition of nonsense codons and expansion studies on genetic code were reviewed, and its potential application values were discussed also. This information would be very useful for further applying the results of genetic code research to the studies in the fields of genomics, medicine, etc.