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. 1979 Dec 11;7(7):2073–2079. doi: 10.1093/nar/7.7.2073

Secondary structure of MS2 phage RNA and bias in code word usage.

M Hasegawa, T Yasunaga, T Miyata
PMCID: PMC342367  PMID: 537920

Abstract

Based on the secondary structural model of MS2 RNA, it is shown that, in base-pairing regions of the RNA, there is a bias in the use of synonymous codons which favours C and/or G over U and/or A in the third codon positions, and that in non-pairing regions, there is an opposite bias which favours U and/or A over C and/or G. This nature is interpreted as a result of selective constraint which stabilises the secondary structure of the single-stranded RNA genome of the MS2 phage.

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Selected References

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