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Updated: Jul 28, 2025

Identifying Amino Acid Overproducers Using Rare-Codon-Rich Markers
Published on: June 24, 2019
Main Factors Shaping Amino Acid Usage Across Evolution
Guillermo Lamolle1, Diego Simón1,2,3, Andrés Iriarte1,4
1Laboratorio de Genómica Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de La República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Abstract:
The standard genetic code determines that in most species, including viruses, there are 20 amino acids that are coded by 61 codons, while the other three codons are stop triplets. Considering the whole proteome each species features its own amino acid frequencies, given the slow rate of change, closely related species display similar GC content and amino acids usage. In contrast, distantly related species display different amino acid frequencies. Furthermore, within certain multicellular species, as mammals, intragenomic differences in the usage of amino acids are evident. In this communication, we shall summarize some of the most prominent and well-established factors that determine the differences found in the amino acid usage, both across evolution and intragenomically.
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