Universal pattern and diverse strengths of successive synonymous codon bias in three domains of life, particularly among prokaryotic genomes.

ABSTRACT: There has been significant progress in understanding the process of protein translation in recent years. One of the best examples is the discovery of usage bias in successive synonymous codons and its role in eukaryotic translation efficiency. We observed here a similar type of bias in the other two life domains, bacteria and archaea, although the bias strength was much smaller than in eukaryotes. Among 136 prokaryotic genomes, 98 were found to have significant bias from random use of successive synonymous codons with Z scores larger than three. Furthermore, significantly different bias strengths were found between prokaryotes grouped by various genomic or biochemical characteristics. Interestingly, the bias strength measured by a general Z score could be fitted well (R = 0.83, P < 10(-15)

SUBMITTER: Guo FB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3514858 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature