Impact of bias discrepancy and amino acid usage on estimates of the effective number of codons used in a gene, and a test for selection on codon usage

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  • Anders Fuglsang
The effective number of codons (Nc) used in a gene is one of the most commonly used measures of synonymous codon usage bias, owing much of its popularity to the fact that it is species independent and that simulation studies have shown that it is less dependent of gene length than other measures. In this paper I provide a clear and practically meaningful definition of bias discrepancy (BD; when the degree of codon bias varies within a degeneracy class). Moreover I evaluate the impact of BD and amino acid usage on estimates of Nc. It is shown that both factors have a significant effect on accuracy and precision. Both amino acid usage and BD influence accuracy considerably, especially in short genes. Finally, I demonstrate how the definition of bias discrepancy can be applied to investigate if codon usage is influenced by selection and I discuss this test in relation to the incongruous literature that exists for Buchnera sp. APS and Borrelia burgdorferi.
Original languageEnglish
JournalGene
Volume410
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)82-8
Number of pages6
ISSN0378-1119
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2007

Bibliographical note

Keywords: Amino Acids; Codon; Evolution

ID: 14829833