Open reading frame

DNA section marked with start and stop codon of different length

In molecular biology, reading frames are defined as spans of DNA sequence between the start and stop codons. Usually, this is considered within a studied region of a prokaryotic DNA sequence, where only one of the six possible reading frames will be "open". Such an ORF may contain a start codon and by definition cannot extend beyond a stop codon. That start codon indicates where translation may start. The transcription termination site is located after the ORF, beyond the translation stop codon. If transcription were to cease before the stop codon, an incomplete protein would be made during translation.

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