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. 1996 Jul 1;24(13):2525–2527. doi: 10.1093/nar/24.13.2525

Preference for guanosine at first codon position in highly expressed Escherichia coli genes. A relationship with translational efficiency.

G Gutiérrez 1, L Márquez 1, A Marín 1
PMCID: PMC145967  PMID: 8692691

Abstract

The variation in base composition at the three codon sites in relation to gene expressivity, the latter estimated by the Codon Adaptation Index, has been studied in a sample of 1371 Escherichia coli genes. Correlation and regression analyses show that increasing expression levels are accompanied by higher frequencies of base G at first, of base A at second and of base C at third codon positions. However, correlation between expressivity and base compositional biases at each codon site was only significant and positive at first codon position. The preference for G-starting codons as gene expression level increases is discussed in terms of translational optimization.

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Selected References

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