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Codon usage biases in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases
Jie Yang1, Tong-Yang Zhu, Zheng-Xin Jiang
1State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China. yangjie@nju.edu.cn
Abstract:
Establishing codon usage biases are crucial for understanding the etiology of central nervous system neurodegenerative diseases (CNSNDD) especially Alzheimer's disease (AD) as well as genetic factors. G and C ending codons are strongly biased in the coding sequences of these proteins as a result of genomic GC composition constraints. On the other hand, codons that identified as translationally optimal in the major trend all end in C or G, suggesting translational selection should also be taken into consideration additional to compositional constraints. Furthermore, this investigation reveals that three common codons, CGC (Arg), AGC (Ser), and GGC (Gly), are also critical in affecting codon usage bias. They not only can offer an insight into the codon usage bias of AD and its mechanism, but also may help in the possible cures for these diseases.
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Translation
Translation is the process of synthesizing proteins from the genetic information carried by messenger RNA (mRNA). Following transcription, it constitutes the final step in the expression of genes. This process is carried out by ribosomes, complexes of protein and specialized RNA molecules. Ribosomes, transfer RNA (tRNA), and other proteins produce a chain of amino acids—the polypeptide—as the end product of translation.
Translation Produces the Building Blocks of Life
Translation
Translation is the process of synthesizing proteins from the genetic information carried by messenger RNA (mRNA). Following transcription, it constitutes the final step in the expression of genes. This process is carried out by ribosomes, complexes of protein and specialized RNA molecules. Ribosomes, transfer RNA (tRNA), and other proteins produce a chain of amino acids—the polypeptide—as the end product of translation.
Translation Produces the Building Blocks of Life
From DNA to Protein
