Dataset Information

MACSE: Multiple Alignment of Coding SEquences accounting for frameshifts and stop codons.

ABSTRACT: Until now the most efficient solution to align nucleotide sequences containing open reading frames was to use indirect procedures that align amino acid translation before reporting the inferred gap positions at the codon level. There are two important pitfalls with this approach. Firstly, any premature stop codon impedes using such a strategy. Secondly, each sequence is translated with the same reading frame from beginning to end, so that the presence of a single additional nucleotide leads to both aberrant translation and alignment.We present an algorithm that has the same space and time complexity as the classical Needleman-Wunsch algorithm while accommodating sequencing errors and other biological deviations from the coding frame. The resulting pairwise coding sequence alignment method was extended to a multiple sequence alignment (MSA) algorithm implemented in a program called MACSE (Multiple Alignment of Coding SEquences accounting for frameshifts and stop codons). MACSE is the first automatic solution to align protein-coding gene datasets containing non-functional sequences (pseudogenes) without disrupting the underlying codon structure. It has also proved useful in detecting undocumented frameshifts in public database sequences and in aligning next-generation sequencing reads/contigs against a reference coding sequence.MACSE is distributed as an open-source java file executable with freely available source code and can be used via a web interface at: http://mbb.univ-montp2.fr/macse.

SUBMITTER: Ranwez V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3174933 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

MACSE: Multiple Alignment of Coding SEquences accounting for frameshifts and stop codons.

Ranwez Vincent V Harispe Sébastien S Delsuc Frédéric F Douzery Emmanuel J P EJ

PloS one 20110916 9

Until now the most efficient solution to align nucleotide sequences containing open reading frames was to use indirect procedures that align amino acid translation before reporting the inferred gap positions at the codon level. There are two important pitfalls with this approach. Firstly, any premature stop codon impedes using such a strategy. Secondly, each sequence is translated with the same reading frame from beginning to end, so that the presence of a single additional nucleotide leads to b ...[more]

PMID: 21949676

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Project description:Synonymous rare codons are considered to be sub-optimal for gene expression because they are translated more slowly than common codons. Yet surprisingly, many protein coding sequences include large clusters of synonymous rare codons. Rare codons at the 5' terminus of coding sequences have been shown to increase translational efficiency. Although a general functional role for synonymous rare codons farther within coding sequences has not yet been established, several recent reports have identified rare-to-common synonymous codon substitutions that impair folding of the encoded protein. Here we test the hypothesis that although the usage frequencies of synonymous codons change from organism to organism, codon rarity will be conserved at specific positions in a set of homologous coding sequences, for example to tune translation rate without altering a protein sequence. Such conservation of rarity-rather than specific codon identity-could coordinate co-translational folding of the encoded protein. We demonstrate that many rare codon cluster positions are indeed conserved within homologous coding sequences across diverse eukaryotic, bacterial, and archaeal species, suggesting they result from positive selection and have a functional role. Most conserved rare codon clusters occur within rather than between conserved protein domains, challenging the view that their primary function is to facilitate co-translational folding after synthesis of an autonomous structural unit. Instead, many conserved rare codon clusters separate smaller protein structural motifs within structural domains. These smaller motifs typically fold faster than an entire domain, on a time scale more consistent with translation rate modulation by synonymous codon usage. While proteins with conserved rare codon clusters are structurally and functionally diverse, they are enriched in functions associated with organism growth and development, suggesting an important role for synonymous codon usage in organism physiology. The identification of conserved rare codon clusters advances our understanding of distinct, functional roles for otherwise synonymous codons and enables experimental testing of the impact of synonymous codon usage on the production of functional proteins.

Dataset Information

MACSE: Multiple Alignment of Coding SEquences accounting for frameshifts and stop codons.

Publications

MACSE: Multiple Alignment of Coding SEquences accounting for frameshifts and stop codons.

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