Akashi, 1994, Genetics 136(3): 927--935

Akashi, 1994, Genetics 136(3): 927--935
FlyBase Identifier	FBrf0072469
FlyBase URL	http://flybase.org/reports/FBrf0072469.html
Publication Type	paper
Publication Year	1994
PubMed ID	8005445
PubMed URL	http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8005445

Title

Synonymous codon usage in Drosophila melanogaster: natural selection and translational accuracy.

Abstract

I present evidence that natural selection biases synonymous codon usage to enhance the accuracy of protein synthesis in Drosophila melanogaster. Since the fitness cost of a translational misincorporation will depend on how the amino acid substitution affects protein function, selection for translational accuracy predicts an association between codon usage in DNA and functional constraint at the protein level. The frequency of preferred codons is significantly higher at codons conserved for amino acids than at nonconserved codons in 38 genes compared between D. melanogaster and Drosophila virilis or Drosophila pseudoobscura (Z = 5.93, P < 10(-6)). Preferred codon usage is also significantly higher in putative zinc-finger and homeodomain regions than in the rest of 28 D. melanogaster transcription factor encoding genes (Z = 8.38, P < 10(-6)). Mutational alternatives (within-gene differences in mutation rates, amino acid changes altering codon preference states, and doublet mutations at adjacent bases) do not appear to explain this association between synonymous codon usage and amino acid constraint.

Genes from Reference

Gene(s)	Dmel\Adh, Dmel\Antp