Cluster analysis of the codon use frequency of MHC genes from different species

Insight into Codon Utilization Pattern of Tumor Suppressor Gene EPB41L3 from Different Mammalian Species Indicates Dominant Role of Selection Force

Simple Summary

The present study envisaged the codon usage pattern analysis of tumor suppressor gene EPB41L3 for the human, brown rat, domesticated cattle, and Sumatran orangutan. Most amino acids are coded by more than one synonymous codon, but they are used in a biased manner. The codon usage bias results from multiple factors like compositional properties, dinucleotide abundance, neutrality, parity, tRNA pool, etc. Understanding codon bias is central to fields as diverse as molecular evolution, gene expressivity, protein translation, and protein folding. This kind of studies is important to see the effects of various evolutionary forces on codon usage. The present study indicated that the selection force is dominant over other forces shaping codon usage in the envisaged organisms.

Abstract

Uneven codon usage within genes as well as among genomes is a usual phenomenon across organisms. It plays a significant role in the translational efficiency and evolution of a particular gene. EPB41L3 is a tumor suppressor protein-coding gene, and in the present study, the pattern of codon usage was envisaged. The full-length sequences of the EPB41L3 gene for the human, brown rat, domesticated cattle, and Sumatran orangutan available at the NCBI were retrieved and utilized to analyze CUB patterns across the selected mammalian species. Compositional properties, dinucleotide abundance, and parity analysis showed the dominance of A and G whilst RSCU analysis indicated the dominance of G/C-ending codons. The neutrality plot plotted between GC12 and GC3 to determine the variation between the mutation pressure and natural selection indicated the dominance of selection pressure (R = 0.926; p < 0.00001) over the three codon positions across the gene. The result is in concordance with the codon adaptation index analysis and the ENc-GC3 plot analysis, as well as the translational selection index (P2). Overall selection pressure is the dominant pressure acting during the evolution of the EPB41L3 gene.

Comprehensive analysis of synonymous codon usage patterns in orf3 gene of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in China

The ORF3 protein of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is found to function as an ion channel which influences virus virulence and production. Taking consideration of the importance of PEDV orf3 gene, we have performed comprehensive analysis to investigate its synonymous codon usage patterns. In this study, the results of base composition analysis showed A/T rich and G/C poor in PEDV orf3 genes, and the most abundant base was nucleotide T. The relative synonymous codon usage value in each codon revealed that codon usage bias existed. The mean ENC value of each gene was 48.75, indicating a low codon usage bias, as well as a relatively instable change in PEDV orf3 genes. The general correlation analysis between base composition and codon usage bias indicated that mutational bias has an impact on the PEDV codon usage bias. Neutral analysis suggested that natural selection pressure takes a more important influence than mutational bias in shaping codon usage bias. Moreover, other factors including hydrophobicity and aromaticity have been also found to influence the codon usage variation among the PEDV orf3 genes. This study not only represents the most systematic analysis of codon usage patterns in PEDV orf3 genes, but also provides a basic shaping mechanism of the codon usage bias.

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ORF3 genes are A/T rich and C/G poor, and codon usage bias existed.

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Natural selection pressure plays a more important role than mutational bias in codon usage bias.

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Hydrophobicity and aromaticity also influence the codon usage variation.

Genetic evolution and codon usage analysis of NKX-2.5 gene governing heart development in some mammals

NKX-2.5 gene is responsible for cardiac development and its targeted disruption apprehends cardiac development at the linear heart tube stage. Bioinformatic analysis was employed to investigate the codon usage pattern and dN/dS of mammalian NKX-2.5 gene. The relative synonymous codon usage analysis revealed variation in codon usage and two synonymous codons namely ATA (Ile) and GTA (Val) were absent in NKX-2.5 gene across selected mammalian species suggesting that these two codons were possibly selected against during evolution. Parity rule 2 analysis of two and four fold amino acids showed CT bias whereas six-fold amino acids revealed GA bias. Neutrality analysis suggests that selection played a prominent role while mutation had a minor role. The dN/dS analysis suggests synonymous substitution played a significant role and it negatively correlated with p-distance of the gene. Purifying natural selection played a dominant role in the genetic evolution of NKX-2.5 gene in mammals.

New insights into the codon usage patterns of the bactericidal/permeability-increasing (BPI) gene across nine species

Bactericidal/permeability-increasing (BPI) protein is a member of a new generation of proteins known as super-antibiotics that are implicated as endotoxin neutralising agents. Non-uniform usage of synonymous codons for a specific amino acid during translation of a protein is known as codon usage bias (CUB). Analysis of CUB and compositional dynamics of coding sequences could contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanism and the evolution of a particular gene. In this study, we performed CUB analysis of the complete coding sequences of the BPI gene from nine different species. The codon usage patterns of BPI across different species were found to be influenced by GC bias, particularly GC3s, with a moderate bias in the codon usage of BPI. We found significant similarities in the codon usage patterns in BPI gene among closely related species, such as Sus_scrofa and Bos_taurus. Moreover, we observed evolutionary conservation of the most over-represented codon CUG for the amino acid leucine in the BPI gene across all species. In conclusion, our analysis provides a novel insight into the codon usage patterns of BPI. This information facilitates an improved understanding of the structural, functional and evolutionary significance of BPI gene among species, and provides a theoretical reference for developing antiseptic drug proteins with high efficiency across species.

Comparative characterization analysis of synonymous codon usage bias in classical swine fever virus

Classical swine fever virus (CSFV) is responsible for the highly contagious viral disease of swine, and causes great economic loss in the swine-raising industry. Considering the significance of CSFV, a systemic analysis was performed to study its codon usage patterns. In this study, using the complete genome sequences of 76 CSFV representing three genotypes, we firstly analyzed the relative nucleotide composition, effective number of codon (ENC) and synonymous codon usage in CSFV genomes. The results showed that CSFV is GC-moderate genome and the third-ended codons are not preferentially used. Every ENC values in CSFV genomes are >50, indicating that the codon usage bias is comparatively slight. Subsequently, we performed the correspondence analysis (COA) to investigate synonymous codon usage variation among all of the CSFV genomes. We found that codon usage bias in these CSFV genomes is greatly influenced by G + C mutation, which suggests that mutational pressure may be the main factor determining the codon usage biases. Moreover, most of the codon usage bias among different CSFV ORFs is directly related to the nucleotide composition. Other factors, such as hydrophobicity and aromaticity, also influence the codon usage variation among CSFV genomes. Our study represents the most comprehensive analysis of codon usage patterns in CSFV genome and provides a basic understanding of the mechanisms for its codon usage bias.

Genome-Wide Analysis of the Synonymous Codon Usage Patterns in Riemerella anatipestifer

Riemerella anatipestifer (RA) belongs to the Flavobacteriaceae family and can cause a septicemia disease in poultry. The synonymous codon usage patterns of bacteria reflect a series of evolutionary changes that enable bacteria to improve tolerance of the various environments. We detailed the codon usage patterns of RA isolates from the available 12 sequenced genomes by multiple codon and statistical analysis. Nucleotide compositions and relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) analysis revealed that A or U ending codons are predominant in RA. Neutrality analysis found no significant correlation between GC12 and GC₃ (p > 0.05). Correspondence analysis and ENc-plot results showed that natural selection dominated over mutation in the codon usage bias. The tree of cluster analysis based on RSCU was concordant with dendrogram based on genomic BLAST by neighbor-joining method. By comparative analysis, about 50 highly expressed genes that were orthologs across all 12 strains were found in the top 5% of high CAI value. Based on these CAI values, we infer that RA contains a number of predicted highly expressed coding sequences, involved in transcriptional regulation and metabolism, reflecting their requirement for dealing with diverse environmental conditions. These results provide some useful information on the mechanisms that contribute to codon usage bias and evolution of RA.

Gaining insights into the codon usage patterns of TP53 gene across eight mammalian species

TP53 gene is known as the “guardian of the genome” as it plays a vital role in regulating cell cycle, cell proliferation, DNA damage repair, initiation of programmed cell death and suppressing tumor growth. Non uniform usage of synonymous codons for a specific amino acid during translation of protein known as codon usage bias (CUB) is a unique property of the genome and shows species specific deviation. Analysis of codon usage bias with compositional dynamics of coding sequences has contributed to the better understanding of the molecular mechanism and the evolution of a particular gene. In this study, the complete nucleotide coding sequences of TP53 gene from eight different mammalian species were used for CUB analysis. Our results showed that the codon usage patterns in TP53 gene across different mammalian species has been influenced by GC bias particularly GC₃ and a moderate bias exists in the codon usage of TP53 gene. Moreover, we observed that nature has highly favored the most over represented codon CTG for leucine amino acid but selected against the ATA codon for isoleucine in TP53 gene across all mammalian species during the course of evolution.

System analysis of synonymous codon usage biases in archaeal virus genomes

Recent studies of geothermally heated aquatic ecosystems have found widely divergent viruses with unusual morphotypes. Archaeal viruses isolated from these hot habitats usually have double-stranded DNA genomes, linear or circular, and can infect members of the Archaea domain. In this study, the synonymous codon usage bias (SCUB) and dinucleotide composition in the available complete archaeal virus genome sequences have been investigated. It was found that there is a significant variation in SCUB among different Archaeal virus species, which is mainly determined by the base composition. The outcome of correspondence analysis (COA) and Spearman׳s rank correlation analysis shows that codon usage of selected archaeal virus genes depends mainly on GC richness of genome, and the gene׳s function, albeit with smaller effects, also contributes to codon usage in this virus. Furthermore, this investigation reveals that aromaticity of each protein is also critical in affecting SCUB of these viral genes although it was less important than that of the mutational bias. Especially, mutational pressure may influence SCUB in SIRV1, SIRV2, ARV1, AFV1, and PhiCh1 viruses, whereas translational selection could play a leading role in HRPV1׳s SCUB. These conclusions not only can offer an insight into the codon usage biases of archaeal virus and subsequently the possible relationship between archaeal viruses and their host, but also may help in understanding the evolution of archaeal viruses and their gene classification, and more helpful to explore the origin of life and the evolution of biology.

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The SCUB of archaeal virus genes depends mainly on GC richness of genome.

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The mutational pressure is the main factor that influences SCUB.

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The aromaticity of each protein is also critical in affecting SCUB.

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The translational selection could play a leading role in HRPV1׳s SCUB.

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The mode is helpful to explore the origin of life and the evolution of biology.

Analysis of synonymous codon usage in Newcastle disease virus hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) gene and fusion protein (F) gene

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) is a multifunctional protein, which possesses both the receptor recognition and neuraminidase activities. The fusion (F) protein is a type I membrane glycoprotein that mediates the merger of the viral envelope to the host cell membrane. Although the functions of the HN and F proteins have been well studied, however, the factors shaping synonymous codon usage bias and nucleotide composition in HN and F genes have been few reported. In our study, we analyzed synonymous codon usage using the 69 NDV HN and F genes, respectively. The general correlation between base composition and codon usage bias suggests that mutational pressure rather than natural selection is the main factor that determines the codon usage bias in HN and F genes. In addition, other factors, such as the aromaticity and hydrophobicity, also influence the codon usage variation among HN and F genes. This study represents the most comprehensive analysis to date of NDV HN and F genes codon usage patterns and provides a basic understanding of the mechanisms for codon usage bias.

Analysis of codon use features of stearoyl-acyl carrier protein desaturase gene in Camellia sinensis

The stearoyl-acyl carrier protein desaturase (SAD) gene widely exists in all kinds of plants. In this paper, the Camellia sinensis SAD gene (CsSAD) sequence was firstly analyzed by Codon W, CHIPS, and CUSP programs online, and then compared with genomes of the tea plant, other species and SAD genes from 11 plant species. The results show that the CsSAD gene and the selected 73 of C. sinensis genes have similar codon usage bias. The CsSAD gene has a bias toward the synonymous codons with A and T at the third codon position, the same as the 73 of C. sinensis genes. Compared with monocotyledons such as Triticum aestivum and Zea mays, the differences in codon usage frequency between the CsSAD gene and dicotyledons such as Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana tobacum are less. Therefore, A. thaliana and N. tobacum expression systems may be more suitable for the expression of the CsSAD gene. The analysis result of SAD genes from 12 plant species also shows that most of the SAD genes are biased toward the synonymous codons with G and C at the third codon position. We believe that the codon usage bias analysis presented in this study will be essential for providing a theoretical basis for discussing the structure and function of the CsSAD gene.

Analysis of synonymous codon usage patterns in torque teno sus virus 1 (TTSuV1)

Torque teno sus virus 1 (TTSuV1) is a novel virus that has been found widely distributed in the swine population in recent years. Analysis of codon usage can reveal much about the molecular evolution of TTSuV1. In this study, synonymous codon usage patterns and the key determinants in the coding region of 29 available complete TTSuV1 genome sequences were examined. By calculating the nucleotide content and relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) of TTSuV1 coding sequences, we found that the preferentially used codons were mostly those ending with A or C nucleotides; less-used codons were mostly codons ending with U or G nucleotides, and these were mainly affected by composition constraints. Although there was a variation in codon usage bias among different TTSuV1 genomes, the codon usage bias and GC content in the TTSuV1 coding region was lower, which was mainly determined by the base composition in the third codon position and the effective number of codons (ENC) value. Moreover, the results of correspondence analysis (COA) indicated that the codon usage patterns of TTSuV1 isolated from different countries varied greatly and had significant differences. In addition, Spearman’s rank correlation analysis and an ENC plot revealed that apart from mutation pressure, which was critical in determining the codon usage pattern, other factors were involved in shaping the evolution of codon usage bias in TTSuV1, such as natural selection. Those results suggested that synonymous codon usage patterns of TTSuV1 genomes were the result of interaction between mutation pressure and natural selection. The information from this study not only provides important insights into the synonymous codon usage pattern of TTSuV1, but also helps to identify the main factors affecting codon usage by this virus.

Insight into pattern of codon biasness and nucleotide base usage in serotonin receptor gene family from different mammalian species

5-HT (5-Hydroxy-tryptamine) or serotonin receptors are found both in central and peripheral nervous system as well as in non-neuronal tissues. In the animal and human nervous system, serotonin produces various functional effects through a variety of membrane bound receptors. In this study, we focus on 5-HT receptor family from different mammals and examined the factors that account for codon and nucleotide usage variation. A total of 110 homologous coding sequences from 11 different mammalian species were analyzed using relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU), correspondence analysis (COA) and hierarchical cluster analysis together with nucleotide base usage frequency of chemically similar amino acid codons. The mean effective number of codon (ENc) value of 37.06 for 5-HT(6) shows very high codon bias within the family and may be due to high selective translational efficiency. The COA and Spearman's rank correlation reveals that the nucleotide compositional mutation bias as the major factors influencing the codon usage in serotonin receptor genes. The hierarchical cluster analysis suggests that gene function is another dominant factor that affects the codon usage bias, while species is a minor factor. Nucleotide base usage was reported using Goldman, Engelman, Stietz (GES) scale reveals the presence of high uracil (>45%) content at functionally important hydrophobic regions. Our in silico approach will certainly help for further investigations on critical inference on evolution, structure, function and gene expression aspects of 5-HT receptors family which are potential antipsychotic drug targets.

Analysis of Codon Usage Bias in Interferon Alpha Gene of the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda Melanoleuca)

The analysis on codon usage bias of IFN-a gene of giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) may provide a basis for understanding the evolution relationship of giant panda and for selecting appropriate host expression systems to improve the expression of target genes. In this paper, the codon usage bias in the mature IFN-a sequence of giant panda and 15 reference species have been analyzed. The results showed that the synonymous codons with G and C at the third codon position were widely used and the ENC-GC3S plot revealed that the genetic heterogeneity in IFN-a gene was main constrained by mutational bias. Contrastive analysis revealed that there were 40 codons showing distinct usage differences between GpIFN-a and Escherichia coli, 38 codons between GpIFN-a and yeast. and only 30 between GpIFN-a and Homo sapiens. Therefore the Homo expression system may be more suitable for the expression of GpIFN-a genes.

Analysis of synonymous codon usage in Aeropyrum pernix K1 and other Crenarchaeota microorganisms

In this study, a comparative analysis of the codon usage bias was performed in Aeropyrum pernix K1 and two other phylogenetically related Crenarchaeota microorganisms (i.e., Pyrobaculum aerophilum str. IM2 and Sulfolobus acidocaldarius DSM 639). The results indicated that the synonymous codon usage in A. pernix K1 was less biased, which was highly correlated with the GC(3S) value. The codon usage patterns were phylogenetically conserved among these Crenarchaeota microorganisms. Comparatively, it is the species function rather than the gene function that determines their gene codon usage patterns. A. pernix K1, P. aerophilum str. IM2, and S. acidocaldarius DSM 639 live in differently extreme conditions. It is presumed that the living environment played an important role in determining the codon usage pattern of these microorganisms. Besides, there was no strain-specific codon usage among these microorganisms. The extent of codon bias in A. pernix K1 and S. acidocaldarius DSM 639 were highly correlated with the gene expression level, but no such association was detected in P. aerophilum str. IM2 genomes.

Gene classification using codon usage and support vector machines

A novel approach for gene classification, which adopts codon usage bias as input feature vector for classification by support vector machines (SVM) is proposed. The DNA sequence is first converted to a 59-dimensional feature vector where each element corresponds to the relative synonymous usage frequency of a codon. As the input to the classifier is independent of sequence length and variance, our approach is useful when the sequences to be classified are of different lengths, a condition that homology-based methods tend to fail. The method is demonstrated by using 1,841 Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) sequences which are classified into two major classes: HLA-I and HLA-II; each major class is further subdivided into sub-groups of HLA-I and HLA-II molecules. Using codon usage frequencies, binary SVM achieved accuracy rate of 99.3% for HLA major class classification and multi-class SVM achieved accuracy rates of 99.73% and 98.38% for sub-class classification of HLA-I and HLA-II molecules, respectively. The results show that gene classification based on codon usage bias is consistent with the molecular structures and biological functions of HLA molecules.

Analysis of synonymous codon usage in the UL24 gene of duck enteritis virus

The analysis on codon usage bias of UL24 gene of duck enteritis virus (DEV) may improve our understanding of the evolution and pathogenesis of DEV and provide a basis for understanding the relevant mechanism for biased usage of synonymous codons and for selecting appropriate expression systems to improve the expression of target genes. The codon usage bias of UL24 genes of DEV and 27 reference herpesviruses were analyzed. The results showed that codon of UL24 gene of DEV was strong bias toward the synonymous codons with A and T at the third codon position. A high level of diversity in codon usage bias existed, and the effective number of codons used in a gene plot revealed that the genetic heterogeneity in UL24 gene of herpesviruses was constrained by the G + C content. The phylogentic analysis suggested that DEV was evolutionarily closer to Alphaherpesvirinae and that there was no significant deviation in codon usage in different virus strains. There were 20 codons showing distinct usage differences between DEV and Escherichia coli, 23 between DEV and Homo sapiens, but only 16 codons between DEV and yeast. Therefore the yeast expression system may be more suitable for the expression of DEV genes.

Dynamic covariation between gene expression and genome characteristics

Gene and protein expression is controlled so that cells can react to changing intra- and extracellular signals by modulating biochemical networks and pathways. We have previously shown that gene expression and the properties of expressed proteins are dynamically correlated. Here we investigated correlations between gene related parameters and gene expression patterns, and found statistically significant correlations in microarray datasets for different cell types, organisms and processes, including human B and T cell stimulation, cell cycle in HeLa cells, infection in intestinal epithelial cells, Drosophila melanogaster life span, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell cycle. Our method was applied to time course datasets individually for each time point. We derived from sequence information numerous parameters for nucleotide composition, two-base composition, codon usage, skew parameters, and codon bias. In addition to coding regions, we also investigated correlations for complete genes and introns. Significant dynamic correlations were identified for each of the analyses. Our method also proved useful for detecting dynamic shifts in gene expression profiles, such as in the D. melanogaster dataset. Detection of changes in the properties of expressed genes and proteins might be useful for predicting or following biological processes, responses, growth, differentiation and possibly in related disorders.

Analysis of synonymous codon usage in 11 human bocavirus isolates

Human Bocavirus (HBoV) is a novel virus which can cause respiratory tract disease in infants or children. In this study, the codon usage bias and the base composition variations in the available 11 complete HBoV genome sequences have been investigated. Although, there is a significant variation in codon usage bias among different HBoV genes, codon usage bias in HBoV is a little slight, which is mainly determined by the base compositions on the third codon position and the effective number of codons (ENC) value. The results of correspondence analysis (COA) and Spearman's rank correlation analysis reveals that the G + C compositional constraint is the main factor that determines the codon usage bias in HBoV and the gene's function also contributes to the codon usage in this virus. Moreover, it was found that the hydrophobicity of each protein and the gene length are also critical in affecting these viruses’ codon usage, although they were less important than that of the mutational bias and the genes’ function. At last, the relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) of 44 genes from these 11 HBoV isolates is analyzed using a hierarchical cluster method. The result suggests that genes with same function yet from different isolates are classified into the same lineage and it does not depend on geographical location. These conclusions not only can offer an insight into the codon usage patterns and gene classification of HBoV, but also may help in increasing the efficiency of gene delivery/expression systems.

Mutation pressure shapes codon usage in the GC-Rich genome of foot-and-mouth disease virus

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is economically the most important viral-induced livestock disease worldwide. In this study, we report the results of a survey of codon usage bias of FMD virus (FMDV) representing all seven serotypes (A, O, C, Asia 1, SAT 1, SAT 2, and SAT 3). Correspondence analysis, a commonly used multivariate statistical approach, was carried out to analyze synonymous codon usage bias. The analysis showed that the overall extent of codon usage bias in FMDV is low. Furthermore, the good correlation between the frequency of G + C at the synonymous third position of sense codons (GC3S) content at silent sites of each sequence and codon usage bias suggested that mutation pressure rather than natural (translational) selection is the most important determinant of the codon bias observed. In addition, other factors, such as the lengths of open reading frame (ORF) and the hydrophobicity of genes also influence the codon usage variation among the genomes of FMDV in a minor way. The result of phylogenetic analyses based on the relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) values indicated a few obvious phylogenetic incongruities, which suggest that more FMDV genome diversity may exist in nature than is currently indicated. Our work might give some clues to the features of FMDV genome and some evolutionary information of this virus.

Phylogenetic analyses of penicillia based on partial calmodulin gene sequences

Partial sequences (about 600 nucleotides) of the calmodulin gene were used for the phylogenetic studies on Eupenicillium, Talaromyces and Penicillium. This region is from the 3rd base of the codon for the 9th amino acid Gln to the 3rd base of the codon for the 122th amino acid Val, flanking parts of the 2nd and 5th exons with complete sequences of two exons and three introns. Seventy-six isolates of 56 taxa of penicillia were involved. The nucleotide sequences with and without introns were analyzed respectively using the neighbor-joining (NJ) and maximum parsimony (MP) methods. The cluster analysis on relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) of each sequence was also carried out. The fact that species of penicillia belong to the two subfamilies of the Trichocomaceae proposed by Malloch based on traditional methods is supported by our molecular data, whereas, the development of asci and patterns of penicilli show little phylogenetic information. Nine groups in the lineage of Eupenicillium and two in that of Talaromyces were recognized in our studies. In addition to the teleomorph-holomorph-anamorph evolutionary model of penicillia suggested by LoBuglio et al., and Pitt, we proposed that a mutation bias of holomorphs/anamorphs with or without selection is another evolutionary path of these organisms.

Support vector machine for classification of meiotic recombination hotspots and coldspots in Saccharomyces cerevisiae based on codon composition

Background

Meiotic double-strand breaks occur at relatively high frequencies in some genomic regions (hotspots) and relatively low frequencies in others (coldspots). Hotspots and coldspots are receiving increasing attention in research into the mechanism of meiotic recombination. However, predicting hotspots and coldspots from DNA sequence information is still a challenging task.

Results

We present a novel method for classification of hot and cold ORFs located in hotspots and coldspots respectively in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, using support vector machine (SVM), which relies on codon composition differences. This method has achieved a high classification accuracy of 85.0%. Since codon composition is a fusion of codon usage bias and amino acid composition signals, the ability of these two kinds of sequence attributes to discriminate hot ORFs from cold ORFs was also investigated separately. Our results indicate that neither codon usage bias nor amino acid composition taken separately performed as well as codon composition. Moreover, our SVM based method was applied to the full genome: We predicted the hot/cold ORFs from the yeast genome by using cutoffs of recombination rate. We found that the performance of our method for predicting cold ORFs is not as good as that for predicting hot ORFs. Besides, we also observed a considerable correlation between meiotic recombination rate and amino acid composition of certain residues, which probably reflects the structural and functional dissimilarity between the hot and cold groups.

Conclusion

We have introduced a SVM-based novel method to discriminate hot ORFs from cold ones. Applying codon composition as sequence attributes, we have achieved a high classification accuracy, which suggests that codon composition has strong potential to be used as sequence attributes in the prediction of hot and cold ORFs.

Synonymous codon usage in environmental chlamydia UWE25 reflects an evolutional divergence from pathogenic chlamydiae

Publication of the complete genome sequence for the Acanthamoeba sp. endosymbiont UWE25 has illuminated the evolution history of chlamydiae. In this study, the codon usage bias in UWE25 and five other species of pathogenic chlamydiae was calculated. It was found that genomic composition constraints are the major source of codon usage variation in UWE25. This result is different from the former observation in pathogenic chlamydiae, whose genomic base composition is more unbiased. Four other factors, such as strand-specific mutational bias, natural selection acting at the level of translation, hydropathy level of each protein and the conservation level of amino acids also have influence in shaping the codon usage in these six species to some extent. Further analysis suggests that the high stability of the UWE25 genome partially account for the difference in codon usage pattern between environmental and pathogenic chlamydiae. Moreover, our results imply that the replicational selection pressure in pathogenic chlamydiae is stronger than that in UWE25. Analyzing the codon usage pattern in the environmental chlamydia and comparing it with that of the pathogenic chlamydiae may provide clues how the chlamydiae have evolved from their common ancestor.

Comparative Analysis of the Base Composition and Codon Usages in Fourteen Mycobacteriophage Genomes

To study the possible codon usage and base composition variation in the bacteriophages, fourteen mycobacteriophages were used as a model system here and both the parameters in all these phages and their plating bacteria, M. smegmatis had been determined and compared. As all the organisms are GC-rich, the GC contents at third codon positions were found in fact higher than the second codon positions as well as the first + second codon positions in all the organisms indicating that directional mutational pressure is strongly operative at the synonymous third codon positions. Nc plot indicates that codon usage variation in all these organisms are governed by the forces other than compositional constraints. Correspondence analysis suggests that: (i) there are codon usage variation among the genes and genomes of the fourteen mycobacteriophages and M. smegmatis, i.e., codon usage patterns in the mycobacteriophages is phage-specific but not the M. smegmatis-specific; (ii) synonymous codon usage patterns of Barnyard, Che8, Che9d, and Omega are more similar than the rest mycobacteriophages and M. smegmatis; (iii) codon usage bias in the mycobacteriophages are mainly determined by mutational pressure; and (iv) the genes of comparatively GC rich genomes are more biased than the GC poor genomes. Translational selection in determining the codon usage variation in highly expressed genes can be invoked from the predominant occurrences of C ending codons in the highly expressed genes. Cluster analysis based on codon usage data also shows that there are two distinct branches for the fourteen mycobacteriophages and there is codon usage variation even among the phages of each branch.

Analysis of synonymous codon usage in H5N1 virus and other influenza A viruses

In this study, we calculated the codon usage bias in H5N1 virus and performed a comparative analysis of synonymous codon usage patterns in H5N1 virus, five other evolutionary related influenza A viruses and a influenza B virus. Codon usage bias in H5N1 genome is a little slight, which is mainly determined by the base compositions on the third codon position. By comparing synonymous codon usage patterns in different viruses, we observed that the codon usage pattern of H5N1 virus is similar with other influenza A viruses, but not influenza B virus, and the synonymous codon usage in influenza A virus genes is phylogenetically conservative, but not strain-specific. Synonymous codon usage in genes encoded by different influenza A viruses is genus conservative. Compositional constraints could explain most of the variation of synonymous codon usage among these virus genes, while gene function is also correlated to synonymous codon usages to a certain extent. However, translational selection and gene length have no effect on the variations of synonymous codon usage in these virus genes.

Synonymous codon usage and gene function are strongly related in Oryza sativa

The relationship between codon usage and gene function was investigated while considering a dataset of 2106 nuclear genes of Oryza sativa. The results of standard chi(2) test and F-statistic showed that for every 59 synonymous codons, a strongly significant association with gene functional categories existed in rice, indicating that codon usage was generally coordinated with gene function whether it was at the level of individual amino acids or at the level of nucleotides. However, it could not be directly said that the use of every codons differed significantly between any two functional categories. Notably, there existed large difference both in selection for biased codons or selection intensity among functional categories. Therefore, we identified at least two classes of genes: one group of genes, mainly belonging to the "METABOLISM" category, was tended to use G- and/or C-ending codons while the other was more biased to choose codons ending with A and/or U. The latter group contained genes of various functions, especially those genes classified into the "Nuclear Structure" category. These observations will be more important for molecular genetic engineering and genome functional annotation.

The relationship between synonymous codon usage and protein structure in Escherichia coli and Homo sapiens

The role of silent position in the codon on the protein structure is an interesting and yet unclear problem. In this paper, 563 Homo sapiens genes and 417 Escherichia coli genes coding for proteins with four different folding types have been analyzed using variance analysis, a multivariate analysis method newly used in codon usage analysis, to find the correlation between amino acid composition, synonymous codon, and protein structure in different organisms. It has been found that in E. coli, both amino acid compositions in differently folded proteins and synonymous codon usage in different gene classes coding for differently folded proteins are significantly different. It was also found that only amino acid composition is different in different protein classes in H. sapiens. There is no universal correlation between synonymous codon usage and protein structure in these two different organisms. Further analysis has shown that GC content on the second codon position can distinguish coding genes for different folded proteins in both organisms.

Analysis of synonymous codon usage in SARS Coronavirus and other viruses in the Nidovirales

In this study, we calculated the codon usage bias in severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus (SARSCoV) and performed a comparative analysis of synonymous codon usage patterns in SARSCoV and 10 other evolutionary related viruses in the Nidovirales. Although there is a significant variation in codon usage bias among different SARSCoV genes, codon usage bias in SARSCoV is a little slight, which is mainly determined by the base compositions on the third codon position. By comparing synonymous codon usage patterns in different viruses, we observed that synonymous codon usage pattern in these virus genes was virus specific and phylogenetically conserved, but it was not host specific. Phylogenetic analysis based on codon usage pattern suggested that SARSCoV was diverged far from all three known groups of Coronavirus. Compositional constraints could explain most of the variation of synonymous codon usage among these virus genes, while gene function is also correlated to synonymous codon usages to a certain extent. However, translational selection and gene length have no effect on the variations of synonymous codon usage in these virus genes.

Circular codes in archaeal genomes

A new statistical method associating each trinucleotide with a frame is developed for identifying circular codes. Its sensibility allows the detection of several circular codes in the (protein coding) genes of archaeal genomes. Several properties of these circular codes are described, in particular the lengths of the minimal windows to retrieve the construction frames, a new definition of a parameter for measuring some probabilities of words generated by the circular codes, and the types of nucleotides in the trinucleotide sites. Some biological consequences are presented in Discussion.