title: Aeromonas phages encode tRNAs for their overused codons.
abstract: The GC-rich bacterial species, Aeromonas salmonicida, is parasitised by both GC-rich phages (Aeromonas phages - phiAS7 and vB_AsaM-56) and GC-poor phages (Aeromonas phages - 25, 31, 44RR2.8t, 65, Aes508, phiAS4 and phiAS5). Both the GC-rich Aeromonas phage phiAS7 and Aeromonas phage vB_AsaM-56 have nearly identical codon usage bias as their host. While all the remaining seven GC-poor Aeromonas phages differ dramatically in codon usage from their GC-rich host. Here, we investigated whether tRNA encoded in the genome of Aeromonas phages facilitate the translation of phage proteins. We found that tRNAs encoded in the phage genome correspond to synonymous codons overused in the phage genes but not in the host genes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada.
authors.forename: Ramanandan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Prabhakaran
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada.
authors.forename: Shivapriya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chithambaram
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Center for Advanced Research in Environmental Genomics, Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada.
authors.forename: Xuhua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xia
mesh_terms: D000333:Aeromonas / Q000821:virology*; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics*; D003062:Codon; D012343:RNA, Transfer / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D012343:RNA, Transfer