ArticlePLoS genetics2012
Balanced codon usage optimizes eukaryotic translational efficiency.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 194 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
194 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 325 citations in OpenAlex.
- Synonymous but Not Silent: The Codon Usage Code for Gene Expression and Protein Folding.Annual review of biochemistry · 2021Pooled it
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- Cross-species gene redesign leveraging ortholog information and generative modeling.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Allelic Variation at tRNA Genes in Three Nematode Species Indicates Mutation Load Despite Strong Purifying Selection.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- A slight mismatch between a gene's codon usage and the cellular tRNA supply is beneficial.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Availability of Charged tRNAs Drives Maximal Protein Synthesis at Intermediate Levels of Codon Usage Bias.Bulletin of mathematical biology · 2026Article
- Complete chloroplast genome of Ecklonia maxima and comparative analysis with related species.BMC genomics · 2025Article
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- Bacterial gene 5' ends have unusual mutation rates that can mislead tests of selection.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Functional synonymous mutations and their evolutionary consequences.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2025Review
- Considering Metabolic Context in Enzyme Evolution and Design.Biochemistry · 2025Review
- Bioluminescent imaging of an oomycete pathogen empowers chemical selections and rational fungicide applications.Plant methods · 2025Article
- Less is more: slow-codon windows enhance eGFP mRNA resilience against RNA interference.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- A primer on tRNAs, tRNA-mFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025Review
- Comparative genomic analyses reveal evidence for adaptive A-to-I RNA editing in insectEpigenetics · 2024Article
- Further Evidence for Strong Nonneutrality of Yeast Synonymous Mutations.Molecular biology and evolution · 2024Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Displays a Suboptimal Codon Usage Bias for Efficient Translation in Human Cells Diverted by Hijacking the tRNA Epitranscriptome.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- mRNA-based therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment.Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy · 2024Review
134 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cellular efficiency in protein translation is an important fitness determinant in rapidly growing organisms. It is widely believed that synonymous codons are translated with unequal speeds and that translational efficiency is maximized by the exclusive use of rapidly translated codons. Here we estimate the in vivo translational speeds of all sense codons from the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Surprisingly, preferentially used codons are not translated faster than unpreferred ones. We hypothesize that this phenomenon is a result of codon usage in proportion to cognate tRNA concentrations, the optimal strategy in enhancing translational efficiency under tRNA shortage. Our predicted codon-tRNA balance is indeed observed from all model eukaryotes examined, and its impact on translational efficiency is further validated experimentally. Our study reveals a previously unsuspected mechanism by which unequal codon usage increases translational efficiency, demonstrates widespread natural selection for translational efficiency, and offers new strategies to improve synthetic biology.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.