Impact of translational selection on codon usage bias in the archaeon Methanococcus maripaludis.

Patterns of codon usage have been extensively studied among Bacteria and Eukaryotes, but there has been little investigation of species from the third domain of life, the Archaea. Here, we examine the nature of codon usage bias in a methanogenic archaeon, Methanococcus maripaludis. Genome-wide patterns of codon usage are dominated by a strong A + T bias, presumably largely reflecting mutation patterns.

Forces that influence the evolution of codon bias.

The frequencies of alternative synonymous codons vary both among species and among genes from the same genome. These patterns have been inferred to reflect the action of natural selection. Here we evaluate this in bacteria.