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On the origin of synonymous codon usage divergence between thermophilic and mesophilic prokaryotes
Author(s) -
Basak Surajit,
Roy Sujata,
Ghosh Tapash Chandra
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2007.11.054
Subject(s) - thermophile , mesophile , codon usage bias , biology , synonymous substitution , genetics , gene , bacteria , genome
Synonymous codon usage analysis between thermophilic and mesophilic prokaryotes has gained wide attention in recent years. Although it is known that thermophilic and mesophilic prokaryotes use different subset of synonymous codons, no reason for this difference is known so far. In the present communication, by analyzing a large number of thermophilic and mesophilic prokaryotes, we provide evidence that bias in the selection of synonymous codons between thermophilic and mesophilic prokaryotes is related to differential folding pattern of mRNA secondary structures. Moreover, we observe that error‐minimizing property has significant influence in differentiating the synonymous codon usage between thermophilic and mesophilic prokaryotes. Biological implications of these results are discussed.