Nucleotide composition and synonymous codon usage of open reading frames in Norovirus GII.4 variants

Abstract

Norovirus GII.4 variants, a genotype in genogroup II belonging to the genus Norovirus, is a single-strand positive sense RNA containing three open reading frames (ORF1, ORF2 and ORF3) and is the most important pathogen causing nonbacterial gastroenteritis outbreaks. By using bioinformatic softwares such as Codon W, SPSS and so on, a total of 292 strains of the viruses isolated from 1974 to 2016 were analyzed for nucleotide composition and synonymous codon usage in each ORF. The result shows that it is enriched for A over the other bases in nucleotide composition, G behind the other bases in the 3^rd site of all synonymous codons in the three ORFs. The patterns of nucleotide composition and codon bias of ORF2 are similar to those of ORF3 and different from those of ORF1. There are generally UpA motif and CpG motif in the codons with the lowest proportion. Correspondence analysis indicates that the codon usage may be changing over a certain time period for ORF1 in 2006 and 2012, ORF2 in 2012, and ORF3 in 2013. ENC (effective number of codons) plot and other analyses indicate that both natural selection and mutational pressure play partly roles in the ORFs, but natural selection is more important for ORF2 and ORF3. Besides, we also found all optimal codons in the ORFs. The study provides a basic understanding of the mechanism for norovirus GII.4 codon usage bias. Abbreviations ORF Open Reading Frame

ENC Effective Number of Codons

COA correspondence analysis

RSCU Relative Synonymous Codon Usage

CAI Codon Adaptation Index

CBI Codon Bias Index

Fop frequency of optimal codons

L_sym number of synonymous codons

L_aa length amino acids

GRAVY grand average of hydropathicity

Aroma aromaticity

Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma     

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松墨天牛漆酶基因MaLac1的克隆、原核表达及表达谱分析

【目的】本研究旨在克隆并鉴定松墨天牛Monochamus alternatus内源漆酶基因MaLac1,分析其在松墨天牛不同发育阶段的表达水平,为进一步明确MaLac1功能提供依据。【方法】基于松墨天牛肠道转录组测序数据,通过RACE克隆松墨天牛MaLac1基因的全长cDNA序列,并对其进行生物信息学分析;将该基因与pET-32a载体链接构建表达载体pET-MaLac1,导入大肠杆菌Escherichia coli Rosetta (DE3)使其表达;使用qPCR检测MaLac1基因在松墨天牛不同发育阶段(低龄幼虫、老熟幼虫、蛹、雌成虫和雄成虫)肠道中的表达差异。【结果】克隆获得松墨天牛MaLac1的cDNA全长序列(GenBank登录号:KY073340)。MaLac1开放阅读框全长2 067 bp,编码一个含688个氨基酸的蛋白质,预测分子量为78.34 kD,等电点为5.30。SignalP 4.1 Server预测MaLac1在N端包含一个15个氨基酸的信号肽。序列比对分析表明,MaLac1具有典型的昆虫漆酶基因特征,与赤拟谷盗Tribolium castaneum漆酶基因的氨基酸序列一致性达93%。SDS-PAGE检测发现IPTG诱导表达了一条大约78 kD的特异蛋白条带,与推测大小一致。qPCR结果显示,MaLac1在不同发育阶段的松墨天牛肠道中均有表达,其中,在雌成虫肠道中表达量最高,在雄成虫肠道中的次之,在幼虫肠道中的最低。【结论】MaLac1在松墨天牛成虫中表达量显著高于其在幼虫中的,这一结果可能与幼虫和成虫的取食习性差异相关。MaLac1在松墨天牛体内的功能还有待进一步研究。