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The Codon Usage in the Minimal Natural Cell.

Piotr H Pawłowski
Published in: Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (2021)
A statistical analysis of the variation in contents with the size of the current known smallest genomes, N. deltocephalinicola, C. ruddii, N. equitans, and M. genitalium, enabled the indication of a minimal set of codons capable of naturally building a modern-type free-living unicellular organism in an early stage of evolution. Using a linear regression model, the potential codon distribution in the minimal natural cell was predicted and compared to the composition of the smallest synthetic, JCVI-Syn3.0. The distribution of the molecular weight of potentially coded amino acids was also calculated. The main differences in the features of the minimal natural cell and H. Sapiens genome were analyzed. In this regard, the content percentage of respective amino acids and their polarization charge properties were reported and compared. The fractions of occurring nucleotides were calculated, too. Then, the estimated numbers of codons in a minimal natural cell were related to the expected numbers for random distribution. Shown increase, or decrease in the contents, relative to the calculated random filling was related to the evolutionary preferences, varying with the subsequent eras of the evolution of genetic code.
Keyphrases
  • single cell
  • early stage
  • cell therapy
  • amino acid
  • gene expression
  • climate change
  • dna methylation
  • lymph node
  • copy number
  • human health