Evolutionary instability of CUG-Leu in the genetic code of budding yeasts

Tadeusz Krassowski, Aisling Y. Coughlan, Xing-Xing Shen, Xiaofan Zhou, Jacek Kominek, Dana A. Opulente, Robert Riley, Igor V. Grigoriev, Nikunj Maheshwari, Denis C. Shields, Cletus P. Kurtzman, Chris Todd Hittinger, Antonis Rokas and Kenneth H. Wolfe ()
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Tadeusz Krassowski: University College Dublin
Aisling Y. Coughlan: University College Dublin
Xing-Xing Shen: Vanderbilt University
Xiaofan Zhou: Vanderbilt University
Jacek Kominek: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dana A. Opulente: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Robert Riley: United States Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute
Igor V. Grigoriev: United States Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute
Nikunj Maheshwari: University College Dublin
Denis C. Shields: University College Dublin
Cletus P. Kurtzman: Agricultural Research Service
Chris Todd Hittinger: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Antonis Rokas: Vanderbilt University
Kenneth H. Wolfe: University College Dublin

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract The genetic code used in nuclear genes is almost universal, but here we report that it changed three times in parallel during the evolution of budding yeasts. All three changes were reassignments of the codon CUG, which is translated as serine (in 2 yeast clades), alanine (1 clade), or the ‘universal’ leucine (2 clades). The newly discovered Ser2 clade is in the final stages of a genetic code transition. Most species in this clade have genes for both a novel tRNASer(CAG) and an ancestral tRNALeu(CAG) to read CUG, but only tRNASer(CAG) is used in standard growth conditions. The coexistence of these alloacceptor tRNA genes indicates that the genetic code transition occurred via an ambiguous translation phase. We propose that the three parallel reassignments of CUG were not driven by natural selection in favor of their effects on the proteome, but by selection to eliminate the ancestral tRNALeu(CAG).

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04374-7

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