Control of translation elongation in health and disease.

Regulation of protein synthesis makes a major contribution to post-transcriptional control pathways. During disease, or under stress, cells initiate processes to reprogramme protein synthesis and thus orchestrate the appropriate cellular response. Recent data show that the elongation stage of protein synthesis is a key regulatory node for translational control in health and disease.

Hidden patterns of codon usage bias across kingdoms.

The genetic code is necessarily degenerate with 64 possible nucleotide triplets being translated into 20 amino acids. Eighteen out of the 20 amino acids are encoded by multiple synonymous codons. While synonymous codons are clearly equivalent in terms of the information they carry, it is now well established that they are used in a biased fashion.