Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 8, 530-544, Copyright © 1991 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
GE Andersson and CG Kurland
We argue that in animal mitochondria codon reassignments, such as those for
AGA and AGG from arginine to serine or of AUA from isoleucine to
methionine, are the result of an interplay between biased mutational forces
and selective ones. In particular, there is a marked tendency for animal
mitochondria to have very small genomes and to minimize their investment in
components required for gene expression. These tendencies are expressed as
a reduction in the diversity of tRNA isoacceptor species. In our view, the
pressure to simplify tRNA populations, together with mutational bias
against certain codons, will account for the codon reassignments observed
in animal mitochondria. A parallel to the major codon bias in
microorganisms, which likewise tends to reduce the diversity of the tRNA
isoacceptor populations under fast growth conditions, may be drawn.
Therefore, we suggest that codon reassignments are usefully viewed as an
extreme form of codon bias.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
An extreme codon preference strategy: codon reassignment
Department of Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Sweden.
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