Premium
Isochore specificity of AUG initiator context of human genes
Author(s) -
Pesole Graziano,
Bernardi Giorgio,
Saccone Cecilia
Publication year - 1999
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/s0014-5793(99)01675-0
Subject(s) - housekeeping gene , gene , context (archaeology) , genetics , start codon , computational biology , biology , gene expression , base sequence , paleontology
The efficiency of AUG start codon recognition in translation initiation is modulated by its sequence context. Here we investigated a non‐redundant set of 5914 human genes and show that this context is different in genes located in different isochores. In particular, of the two main consensus start sequences, RCCaugR is five‐fold more represented than AARaugR in genes from the GC‐rich H3 isochores compared to genes from the GC‐poor L isochores. Furthermore, genes located in GC‐rich isochores have shorter 5′ UTRs and stronger avoidance of upstream AUG than genes located in GC‐poor isochores. This suggests that genes requiring highly efficient translation are located in GC‐rich isochores and genes requiring fine modulation of expression are located in GC‐poor isochores. This is in agreement with independent data from the literature concerning the location of housekeeping and tissue‐specific genes, respectively.