Skip Navigation



MBE Advance Access published online on November 13, 2006
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msl166
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
24/2/374    most recent
msl166v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Stoletzki, N.
Right arrow Articles by Eyre-Walker, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Stoletzki, N.
Right arrow Articles by Eyre-Walker, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Accepted November 2, 2006

Research Article

Synonymous Codon Usage in Escherichia coli - Selection for Translational Accuracy

Nina Stoletzki 1 * and Adam Eyre-Walker 2

1 Ludwig-Maximilan Universität, Biocenter, Grosshaderner Str. 2, D-82152 Planegg-Martinsried; Center for Study of Evolution, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK
2 Center for Study of Evolution, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK; National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, Durham NC 27707, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Nina Stoletzki, E-mail: nstoletzki{at}googlemail.com


  Abstract

In many organisms, selection acts on synonymous codons to improve translation. However the precise basis of this selection remains unclear in the majority of species. Selection could be acting to maximise the speed of elongation, to minimise the costs of proofreading or to maximise the accuracy of translation. Using several datasets, we find evidence that codon use in Escherichia coli is biased to reduce the costs of both mis-sense and non-sense translational errors. Highly conserved sites and genes have higher codon bias than less conserved ones, and codon bias is positively correlated to gene length and production costs, both indicating selection against mis-sense errors. Additionally, codon bias increases along the length of genes, indicating selection against non-sense errors. Doublet mutations or replacement substitutions do not explain our observations. The correlations remain when we control for expression level, and for conflicting selection pressures at the start and end of genes. Considering each amino acid by itself confirms our results. We conclude that selection on synonymous codon use in E. coli is largely due to selection for translational accuracy, to reduce the costs of both mis-sense and of non-sense errors.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Cancer Res.Home page
Y. Y. Waldman, T. Tuller, R. Sharan, and E. Ruppin
TP53 Cancerous Mutations Exhibit Selection for Translation Efficiency
Cancer Res., November 15, 2009; 69(22): 8807 - 8813.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
Y. Huang, E. V. Koonin, D. J. Lipman, and T. M. Przytycka
Selection for minimization of translational frameshifting errors as a factor in the evolution of codon usage
Nucleic Acids Res., November 1, 2009; 37(20): 6799 - 6810.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
T. Zhou, M. Weems, and C. O. Wilke
Translationally Optimal Codons Associate with Structurally Sensitive Sites in Proteins
Mol. Biol. Evol., July 1, 2009; 26(7): 1571 - 1580.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ScienceHome page
G. Kudla, A. W. Murray, D. Tollervey, and J. B. Plotkin
Coding-Sequence Determinants of Gene Expression in Escherichia coli
Science, April 10, 2009; 324(5924): 255 - 258.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
S. E. Massey
The Proteomic Constraint and Its Role in Molecular Evolution
Mol. Biol. Evol., December 1, 2008; 25(12): 2557 - 2565.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
P. G. Higgs and W. Ran
Coevolution of Codon Usage and tRNA Genes Leads to Alternative Stable States of Biased Codon Usage
Mol. Biol. Evol., November 1, 2008; 25(11): 2279 - 2291.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
W. Jia and P. G. Higgs
Codon Usage in Mitochondrial Genomes: Distinguishing Context-Dependent Mutation from Translational Selection
Mol. Biol. Evol., February 1, 2008; 25(2): 339 - 351.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.