title: Influence of parasitic life style on the patterns of codon usage and base frequencies of Ancylostoma and Necator species.
abstract: Parametric analyses were used to investigate the nucleotide, codon, and amino acid composition of coding sequences corresponding to hook-worms. Ancylostoma caninum and Necator americanus. Although genomic research has become prevalent within the scientific community, few studies have dealt directly with parasitic species. Parasites have existed throughout the history of mankind due to their wide range of distribution in nature and their ability to evade immune detection. An AT nucleotide bias was identified in both A. caninum and N. americanus sequences. A similar AT bias was also identified in both datasets when considering relative synonymous codon usage. However, the codon bias was much more pronounced in N. americanus as compared to A. caninum. Bias was also present at the amino acid level, and appeared to be partially independent of the nucleotide-based biases. Analysis of parasite genomes will facilitate the development of vaccines against larval forms of parasites. Moreover, the examination of the parasite genes in general, will allow for a more in-depth understanding of the evolution of the parasites and parasitism.
authors.affiliation: The Center for Computational Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Fadiel
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lithwick
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: el-Garhy
mesh_terms: D000722:Ancylostoma / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001482:Base Composition; D001483:Base Sequence; D003062:Codon / Q000737:chemistry; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry; D017221:Necator americanus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D018076:DNA, Complementary