Contrasts in codon usage of latent versus productive genes of Epstein-Barr virus: data and hypotheses

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has two different modes of existence: latent and productive. There are eight known genes expressed during latency (and hardly at all during the productive phase) and about 70 other ("productive") genes. It is shown that the EBV genes known to be expressed during latency display codon usage strikingly different from that of genes that are expressed during lytic growth. In particular, the percentage of S3 (G or C in codon site 3) is persistently lower (about 20%) in all latent genes than in nonlatent genes. Moreover, S3 is lower in each multicodon amino acid form. Also, the percentage of S in silent codon sites 1 of leucine and arginine is lower in latent than in nonlatent genes. The largest absolute differences in amino acid usage between latent and nonlatent genes emphasize codon types SSN and WWN (W means nucleotide A or T and N is any nucleotide). Two principal explanations to account for the EBV latent versus productive gene codon disparity are proposed. Latent genes have codon usage substantially different from that of host cell genes to minimize the deleterious consequences to the host of viral gene expression during latency. (Productive genes are not so constrained.) It is also proposed that the latency genes of EBV were acquired recently by the viral genome. Evidence and arguments for these proposals are presented.