Ambush hypothesis

The ambush hypothesis is a hypothesis in molecular genetics that posits that hidden (off-frame) stop codons in coding sequences could selectively prevent off-frame protein translation.
Coding sequences, by definition, lack stop codons. However, many stop codons appear off-frame within coding sequences, termed "hidden stops". It was not clear until 2004 that hidden stops could be positively selected. Seligmann and Pollock devised the ambush hypothesis to coherently describe how hidden stops could contribute to the synonymous position state.
They argued that hidden stops would prevent off-frame protein translation, and their selective cost would compensate for energy saving, reducing efficiency of the genomic and biosynthetic machinery. It is not clear whether or not experimental data is consistent with this hypothesis.