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Distinct responses to rare codons in select Drosophila tissues.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Allen, SR; Stewart, RK; Rogers, M; Ruiz, IJ; Cohen, E; Laederach, A; Counter, CM; Sawyer, JK; Fox, DT
Published in: Elife
May 6, 2022

Codon usage bias has long been appreciated to influence protein production. Yet, relatively few studies have analyzed the impacts of codon usage on tissue-specific mRNA and protein expression. Here, we use codon-modified reporters to perform an organism-wide screen in Drosophila melanogaster for distinct tissue responses to codon usage bias. These reporters reveal a cliff-like decline of protein expression near the limit of rare codon usage in endogenously expressed Drosophila genes. Near the edge of this limit, however, we find the testis and brain are uniquely capable of expressing rare codon-enriched reporters. We define a new metric of tissue-specific codon usage, the tissue-apparent Codon Adaptation Index (taCAI), to reveal a conserved enrichment for rare codon usage in the endogenously expressed genes of both Drosophila and human testis. We further demonstrate a role for rare codons in an evolutionarily young testis-specific gene, RpL10Aa. Optimizing RpL10Aa codons disrupts female fertility. Our work highlights distinct responses to rarely used codons in select tissues, revealing a critical role for codon bias in tissue biology.

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Published In

Elife

DOI

EISSN

2050-084X

Publication Date

May 6, 2022

Volume

11

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Testis
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Drosophila melanogaster
  • Drosophila
  • Codon Usage
  • Codon
  • Animals
  • 42 Health sciences
 

Citation

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Allen, S. R., Stewart, R. K., Rogers, M., Ruiz, I. J., Cohen, E., Laederach, A., … Fox, D. T. (2022). Distinct responses to rare codons in select Drosophila tissues. Elife, 11. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.76893
Allen, Scott R., Rebeccah K. Stewart, Michael Rogers, Ivan Jimenez Ruiz, Erez Cohen, Alain Laederach, Christopher M. Counter, Jessica K. Sawyer, and Donald T. Fox. “Distinct responses to rare codons in select Drosophila tissues.Elife 11 (May 6, 2022). https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.76893.
Allen SR, Stewart RK, Rogers M, Ruiz IJ, Cohen E, Laederach A, et al. Distinct responses to rare codons in select Drosophila tissues. Elife. 2022 May 6;11.
Allen, Scott R., et al. “Distinct responses to rare codons in select Drosophila tissues.Elife, vol. 11, May 2022. Pubmed, doi:10.7554/eLife.76893.
Allen SR, Stewart RK, Rogers M, Ruiz IJ, Cohen E, Laederach A, Counter CM, Sawyer JK, Fox DT. Distinct responses to rare codons in select Drosophila tissues. Elife. 2022 May 6;11.

Published In

Elife

DOI

EISSN

2050-084X

Publication Date

May 6, 2022

Volume

11

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Testis
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Drosophila melanogaster
  • Drosophila
  • Codon Usage
  • Codon
  • Animals
  • 42 Health sciences