PUBLICATION

iCodon customizes gene expression based on the codon composition

Authors
Diez, M., Medina-Muñoz, S.G., Castellano, L.A., da Silva Pescador, G., Wu, Q., Bazzini, A.A.
ID
ZDB-PUB-220717-3
Date
2022
Source
Scientific Reports   12: 12126 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Keywords
none
Datasets
GEO:GSE207584
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Codon/genetics
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Protein Biosynthesis*
  • Proteins/metabolism
  • RNA Stability/genetics
  • RNA, Messenger/genetics
  • RNA, Messenger/metabolism
  • Zebrafish*/genetics
  • Zebrafish*/metabolism
PubMed
35840631 Full text @ Sci. Rep.
Abstract
Messenger RNA (mRNA) stability substantially impacts steady-state gene expression levels in a cell. mRNA stability is strongly affected by codon composition in a translation-dependent manner across species, through a mechanism termed codon optimality. We have developed iCodon ( www.iCodon.org ), an algorithm for customizing mRNA expression through the introduction of synonymous codon substitutions into the coding sequence. iCodon is optimized for four vertebrate transcriptomes: mouse, human, frog, and fish. Users can predict the mRNA stability of any coding sequence based on its codon composition and subsequently generate more stable (optimized) or unstable (deoptimized) variants encoding for the same protein. Further, we show that codon optimality predictions correlate with both mRNA stability using a massive reporter library and expression levels using fluorescent reporters and analysis of endogenous gene expression in zebrafish embryos and/or human cells. Therefore, iCodon will benefit basic biological research, as well as a wide range of applications for biotechnology and biomedicine.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Show all Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping