Codon reassignment is the biological process via which the genetic code of a cell is changed as a response to the environment.
It may be caused by alternative tRNA aminoacylation, in which the cell modifies the target aminoacid of some particular type of transfer-RNA.
[1] This process has been identified in bacteria, yeast and human cancer cells.
[1] In human cancer cells, codon reassignment can be triggered by tryptophan depletion, resulting in proteins where the tryptophan aminoacid is substituted by phenylalanine.
This genetics article is a stub.