title: Differences in codon usage among genes encoding proteins of different function in Rhodobacter capsulatus.
abstract: Codon usage in Rhodobacter was evaluated and found to be strikingly different from that in Escherichia coli. While codon usage for genes concerned with nitrogen utilization and carotenoid biosynthesis corresponded to expectation, based on codon usage for Rhodobacter in general, that for the fructose utilization (fru) operon and for the photosynthetic genes encoding the reaction centre and light harvesting proteins exhibited significant deviation from expectation and from each other for specific amino acids. The differences in codon usage for the fru operon versus the photosynthetic genes may reflect different proportions of the various tRNA specific for certain amino acids when cells are grown under heterotrophic versus phototropic conditions. In addition, preferential use of the initiation codon, GTG, was found for the first cistrons of Rhodobacter operons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093-0116.
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Saier
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D003062:Codon / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005631:Fructokinases / Q000235:genetics; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009586:Nitrogen Fixation / Q000235:genetics; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D012343:RNA, Transfer / Q000235:genetics; D016354:Rhodobacter capsulatus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012242:Rhodobacter sphaeroides / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D002338:Carotenoids; D012343:RNA, Transfer; D005631:Fructokinases