翻译速率与蛋白质二级结构的关系

统计分析了人的 119种蛋白质和大肠杆菌的 92种蛋白质密码子翻译速率和蛋白质二级结构的关系。据m 密码子片段在不同二级结构中的频数分布 ,我们发现人和大肠杆菌中翻译速率与蛋白质二级结构之间有一定关系 :高翻译速率时倾向编码α螺旋、不倾向编码线团 (coil) ;低翻译速率时倾向编码线团、不倾向编码α螺旋 ;β折叠结构则随翻译速率表现出明显的振荡。同时 ,密码子的使用在不同片段内一般也是不均匀的 :在α螺旋片段内 ,结构尾部偏向使用高翻译速率密码子 ;中部倾向使用中翻译速率密码子 ;而头部使用的密码子翻译速率偏低。这样的倾向性不大可能归结为随机起伏的影响。     

qa-3稀有密码子和mRNA结构改造及其在大肠杆菌中的高效表达

奎尼酸脱氢酶的高表达是奎尼酸生物合成的代谢工程研究的关键和基础。粗糙脉孢菌基因组中编码奎尼酸脱氢酶的基因qa-3在大肠杆菌中不表达,根据大肠杆菌密码子使用频率分析qa-3基因,发现有27个稀有密码子,其中编码Arg(R)的有8个,编码Gly(G)的有9个。编码精氨酸的AGG(AGA)两个稀有密码子紧密相连(R区),另外还有个相对比较集中的GGG密集区G区。进一步通过计算机分析其qa-3基因mRNA二级结构,发现改变5′和3′末端个别碱基对其二级结构的影响很大,可以使mRNA的自由能由野生型的-374.3kJ/mol降低到最小-80.5kJ/mol,从而大大减少mRNA两端二级结构的产生,而仅仅改变R区和G区的稀有密码子自由能变化很小。通过对该基因密码子改造和优化5′和3′末端对其mRNA二级结构的影响,在大肠杆菌中表达真菌的基因qa-3,并测到了奎尼酸脱氢酶活性,为构建产奎尼酸工程菌株奠定基础。     

杜仲基因密码子使用模式分析

为了解杜仲基因密码子使用模式,该文以杜仲基因组密码子为研究对象,运用CodonW软件对杜仲的320个蛋白编码基因进行同义密码子相对使用频率(RSCU)分析、ENC-GC3s关联分析编码基因的密码子ENC值、PR2-plot偏倚分析编码基因的密码子碱基使用频率,并运用CUSP软件与Codon Usage Database软件对杜仲基因密码子的GC含量、使用频率与代表性物种烟草、拟南芥、大肠杆菌和酿酒酵母的密码子GC含量和使用频率进行比较。结果表明:杜仲基因密码子的RSCU>1的密码子有30个,其中18个以G/C结尾、12个以A/U结尾,说明杜仲基因密码子偏好以G/C结尾,且偏好性较强;有效密码子数(ENC)范围为30~60,该范围内的密码子距离标准曲线较远,其ENC值小,偏好性较强;PR2-plot偏倚分析碱基使用频率显示,G>C、U>A;杜仲与代表性物种的GC含量分析显示,杜仲的GC12、GC3以及平均GC含量均高于代表性物种;杜仲与代表性物种的密码子使用频率分析显示,杜仲与烟草、酿酒酵母的密码子偏好较为接近,杜仲与拟南芥、大肠杆菌的密码子偏好差距较大。杜仲是我国特有的珍贵中药材,对其进行密码子使用模式分析,并研究其密码子偏好规律,为杜仲植物基因工程中外源基因的改良及表达提供了理论基础。     

qa-3稀有密码子和mRNA结构改造及其在大肠杆菌中的高效表达

奎尼酸脱氢酶的高表达是奎尼酸生物合成的代谢工程研究的关键和基础。粗糙脉孢菌基因组中编码奎尼酸脱氢酶的基因qa-3在大肠杆菌中不表达,根据大肠杆菌密码子使用频率分析qa-3基因,发现有27个稀有密码子,其中编码Arg?的有8个,编码Gly(G)的有9个。编码精氨酸的AGG(AGA) 两个稀有密码子紧密相连（R区）,另外还有个相对比较集中的GGG密集区G区。进一步通过计算机分析其qa-3基因mRNA二级结构,发现改变5′和3′末端个别碱基对其二级结构的影响很大,可以使mRNA的自由能由野生型的-374.3 kJ/mol降低到最小-80.5 kJ/mol,从而大大减少mRNA两端二级结构的产生,而仅仅改变R区和G区的稀有密码子自由能变化很小。通过对该基因密码子改造和优化5′和3′末端对其mRNA二级结构的影响,在大肠杆菌中表达真菌的基因qa-3,并测到了奎尼酸脱氢酶活性,为构建产奎尼酸工程菌株奠定基础。     

人类基因同义密码子偏好的特征以及与基因GC含量的关系

对人类的728个基因,按其编码区中GC的含量分成四组(从GC＜0.43到GC＞0.58),分别考察了这四组样本对同义密码子偏好的特征,发现在全部样本中都呈现NTG(N代表四种碱基中的任一种)特受偏爱和NCG尽量避免的特征.基因环境中GC含量与C3/G3含量(密码子第三位C和G的含量)的相关分析,以及四组样本对密码子的偏好都支持以C结尾的密码子在编码中有特殊的优势,这种优势有利于保证翻译的准确性.还考察了各种氨基酸含量随编码区GC含量不同而变化的趋势.     

基因表达与mRNA结构的关系

基因的转录调控和转录后水平的调控在基因表达过程中起着重要作用。mRNA的结构与基因表达调控的关系非常密切。目前对于mRNA结构对表达的影响因素,主要集中于起始密码子和S-D序列的结构和间隔长度、基因和基因间的间隔区序列和长度,5’末端与3’末端非翻译区、多聚（A）尾、内含子序列对翻译起始效率、发夹结构对mRNA的稳定性的影响和mRNA翻译起始区等对基因表达影响。     

杨树同义密码子用法的初步分析

杨树是世界上广泛栽培的重要造林树种之一,已经成为林木基因工程研究的模式植物。用杨树的314个蛋白编码基因,通过对应分析和ENC-plot分析探讨了若干重要因子对杨树密码子用法的效应。从分析结果中可以看出,在影响最大的第一条向量轴上,基因的坐标位置与该基因的表达水平(CAI)极显著负相关(r=-0.94**),其次是与GC3S和基因长度极显著相关(r=0.86**和r=-0.57**),说明基因表达水平高低是影响密码子发挥作用的主要因素,基因编码区碱基组成和基因长度次之。ENC-plot分析结果也证明了这一点。相对密码子使用值(RSCU)的计算结果表明,高表达基因强烈偏好以A或T结尾的密码子,并确定了TTA和ATA等10个密码子为杨树的主要偏爱密码子。将杨树的密码子使用频率与拟南芥、水稻、大肠杆菌和人等不同模式生物种比较后发现,杨树密码子的偏爱性与同为双子叶植物的拟南芥最为相似,与人和大肠杆菌之间的差异较大。     

H5N2亚型禽流感病毒血凝素裂解位点碱性氨基酸对应mRNA核苷酸的二级结构分析

以H5N2亚型禽流感病毒毒株血凝素蛋白裂解位点碱性氨基酸为研究对象,对其密码子偏好性和对应mRNA序列的折叠二级结构特点进行研究和分析。旨在探讨裂解位点氨基酸对应mRNA核苷酸片段的二级结构与病毒致病力的关系,希望能对禽流感病毒的研究提供一些基础性信息。将mRNA样本按照序列等步长递增的方法,用RNAstructure 4．1程序预测这些样本的动态延伸折叠二级结构。序列和结构的分析结果：裂解位点的碱性氨基酸对富含腺嘌呤的密码子有强烈偏好;与碱性氨基酸对应的mRNA片段上的核苷酸主要位于折叠二级结构的单链环区,少数位于配对螺旋区。结果表明：裂解位点氨基酸对应的mRNA核苷酸形成发夹端环的大小与其碱性氨基酸的多少具有正相关性。     

玉米黑粉菌CYP51稀有密码子和mRNA二级结构分析及与杀菌剂戊唑醇分子对接

通过截短玉米黑粉菌CYP51(P450-14DM,UmCYP51)基因(去除编码跨膜区部分)和选取不同的表达载体,构建了9种重组表达质粒,在大肠杆菌中进行UmCYP51基因的表达,发现只有BL21(DE3)/pET32-Um-35重组表达工程菌获得了表达.对稀有密码子和mRNA翻译起始区二级结构进行分析,结果表明稀有密码子和mRNA翻译起始区二级结构对UmCYP51蛋白的表达都有影响.适用于稀有密码子表达的菌株Rosetta(DE3)不利于UmCYP51蛋白的表达;同时只有翻译起始区二级结构自由能值最低的重组载体pET32-Um-35可以表达.为了设计以UmCYP51为靶标的新型抗真菌抑制剂,基于最新解析的真核生物人类的CYP51晶体结构,利用同源模建的方法构建了UmCYP51的三维结构并进行了分子动力学模拟优化.通过与商品化杀菌剂戊唑醇进行分子对接获得了此类抑制剂与UmCYP51的理论结合方式,阐述了戊唑醇分子的杀菌机理,为开发新型的抗真菌抑制剂奠定了基础.     

同义密码子用语与蛋白质结构的关系

对大肠杆菌的５４种三维结构已知的蛋白质及其对应的ｍＲＮＡ序列的集合的分析结果表明,绝大部分密码子与其编码的氨基酸在蛋白质α螺旋、β折叠和卷曲等三种二级结构中的偏好性没有显著的统计性差异。同时,又对Ａｄｚｈｕｂｅｉ提供的相应哺乳类数据集作了同样的偏好性检验,表明９种氨基酸的同义密码子携带蛋白质二级结构信息,与他们的结论一致。推测,这种差异可能由翻译机制的进化趋异造成的。这些结果对于真核基因在原核生物中实现高表达可能有重要的实际意义。     

Efficient translation initiation dictates codon usage at gene start

The genetic code is degenerate; thus, protein evolution does not uniquely determine the coding sequence. One of the puzzles in evolutionary genetics is therefore to uncover evolutionary driving forces that result in specific codon choice. In many bacteria, the first 5–10 codons of protein‐coding genes are often codons that are less frequently used in the rest of the genome, an effect that has been argued to arise from selection for slowed early elongation to reduce ribosome traffic jams. However, genome analysis across many species has demonstrated that the region shows reduced mRNA folding consistent with pressure for efficient translation initiation. This raises the possibility that unusual codon usage is a side effect of selection for reduced mRNA structure. Here we discriminate between these two competing hypotheses, and show that in bacteria selection favours codons that reduce mRNA folding around the translation start, regardless of whether these codons are frequent or rare. Experiments confirm that primarily mRNA structure, and not codon usage, at the beginning of genes determines the translation rate.     

The relationship among gene expression, folding free energy and codon usage bias in Escherichia coli

Taking advantage of microarray data in Escherichia coli genome, the relationship among mRNA expression levels, folding free energy and codon usage bias are investigated. Our results indicate that mRNA expression is correlated to the stability of mRNA secondary structure and the codon usage bias. The decrease of the stability of mRNA structure contributes to the increase of mRNA expression. There is a negative correlation between codon adaptation index (CAI) and mRNA expression in genes with less stable structure. The relationship between the stability of mRNA structure and mRNA half-life indicates the stability of mRNA structure is different from mRNA half-life.     

Compositional correlation and codon usage studies in Buchnera aphidicola

Compositional distributions in three different codon positions as well as codon usage biases of all available DNA sequences of Buchnera aphidicola genome have been analyzed. It was observed that GC levels among the three codon positions is I>II>III as observed in other extremely high AT rich organisms. B. aphidicola being an AT rich organism is expected to have A and/or T at the third positions of codons. Overall codon usage analyses indicate that A and/or T ending codons are predominant in this organism and some particular amino acids are abundant in the coding region of genes. However, multivariate statistical analysis indicates two major trends in the codon usage variation among the genes; one being strongly correlated with the GC contents at the third synonymous positions of codons, and the other being associated with the expression level of genes. Moreover, codon usage biases of the highly expressed genes are almost identical with the overall codon usage biases of all the genes of this organism. These observations suggest that mutational bias is the main factor in determining the codon usage variation among the genes in B. aphidicola.     

The relationship between synonymous codon usage and protein structure in Escherichia coli and Homo sapiens

The role of silent position in the codon on the protein structure is an interesting and yet unclear problem. In this paper, 563 Homo sapiens genes and 417 Escherichia coli genes coding for proteins with four different folding types have been analyzed using variance analysis, a multivariate analysis method newly used in codon usage analysis, to find the correlation between amino acid composition, synonymous codon, and protein structure in different organisms. It has been found that in E. coli, both amino acid compositions in differently folded proteins and synonymous codon usage in different gene classes coding for differently folded proteins are significantly different. It was also found that only amino acid composition is different in different protein classes in H. sapiens. There is no universal correlation between synonymous codon usage and protein structure in these two different organisms. Further analysis has shown that GC content on the second codon position can distinguish coding genes for different folded proteins in both organisms.     

Determining the relationship of gene expression and global mRNA stability in Drosophila melanogaster and Escherichia coli using linear models

There are several sequence-dependent factors regulating gene expression. Some of them have been extensively studied, among the most prominent are GC content and codon usage bias. Other factors hypothesized to have an impact on gene expression are gene length and the thermodynamic stability of mRNA secondary structure. In this work, we analyzed two different microarray datasets of Drosophila melanogaster gene expression and one dataset of Escherichia coli. To investigate the relationship between gene expression, codon usage bias and GC content of first, second and third codon position, gene length and mRNA stability we employed a multiple regression analysis using a comprehensive linear model. It is shown that codon usage bias and GC content of the first, second and third codon position show a significant influence on gene expression, whereas no significant effect of mRNA secondary structure stability is observed.     

Patterns of codon usage in two ciliates that reassign the genetic code: Tetrahymena thermophila and Paramecium tetraurelia

We used the recently sequenced genomes of the ciliates Tetrahymena thermophila and Paramecium tetraurelia to analyze the codon usage patterns in both organisms; we have analyzed codon usage bias, Gln codon usage, GC content and the nucleotide contexts of initiation and termination codons in Tetrahymena and Paramecium. We also studied how these trends change along the length of the genes and in a subset of highly expressed genes. Our results corroborate some of the trends previously described in Tetrahymena, but also negate some specific observations. In both genomes we found a strong bias toward codons with low GC content; however, in highly expressed genes this bias is smaller and codons ending in GC tend to be more frequent. We also found that codon bias increases along gene segments and in highly expressed genes and that the context surrounding initiation and termination codons are always AT rich. Our results also suggest differences in the efficiency of translation of the reassigned stop codons between the two species and between the reassigned codons. Finally, we discuss some of the possible causes for such translational efficiency differences.     

Expression of tetanus toxin fragment C in E. coli: high level expression by removing rare codons.

Tetanus toxin fragment C had been previously expressed in Escherichia coli at 3-4% cell protein. The codon bias for tetanus toxin in Clostridium tetani is very different from that of highly expressed homologous genes in E. coli, resulting in the presence of many rare E. coli codons in the sequence encoding fragment C. We have replaced the coding sequence by sequence optimized for codon usage in E. coli, and show that the expression of fragment C is increased. Although the level of mRNA also increased this appeared to be a secondary consequence of more efficient translation. Complete sequence replacement increased expression to approximately 11-14% cell protein but only after the promoter strength had been improved.     

Analysis of synonymous codon usage in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Zea mays</Emphasis>

It is important and meaningful to understand the codon usage pattern and the factors that shape codon usage of maize. In this study, trends in synonymous codon usage in maize have been firstly examined through the multivariate statistical analysis on 7402 cDNA sequences. The results showed that the genes positions on the primary axis were strongly negatively correlated with GC3s, GC content of individual gene and gene expression level assessed by the codon adaptation index (CAI) values, which indicated that nucleotide composition and gene expression level were the main factors in shaping the codon usage of maize, and the variation in codon usage among genes may be due to mutational bias at the DNA level and natural selection acting at the level of mRNA translation. At the same time, CDS length and the hydrophobicity of each protein were, respectively, significantly correlated with the genes locations on the primary axis, GC3s and CAI values. We infer that genes length and the hydrophobicity of the encoded protein may play minor role in shaping codon usage bias. Additional 28 codons ending with a G or C base have been defined as “optimal codons”, which may provide useful information for maize gene-transformation and gene prediction.