Seffens W, Digby D
Department of Biological Sciences and Center for Theoretical Study of Physical Systems, Clark Atlanta University, 223 James Brawley Drive, South West, Atlanta, GA 30134, USA.
Nucleic Acids Res. 1999 Apr 1;27(7):1578-84. doi: 10.1093/nar/27.7.1578.
An examination of 51 mRNA sequences in GenBank has revealed that calculated mRNA folding is more stable than expected by chance. Free energy minimization calculations of native mRNA sequences are more negative than randomized mRNA sequences with the same base composition and length. Randomization of the coding region of genes yields folding free energies of less negative magnitude than the original native mRNA sequence. Randomization of codon choice, while still preserving original base composition, also results in less stable mRNAs. This suggests that a bias in the selection of codons favors the potential formation of mRNA structures which contribute to folding stability.
对GenBank中51个mRNA序列的检查表明，计算出的mRNA折叠比随机预期的更稳定。天然mRNA序列的自由能最小化计算比具有相同碱基组成和长度的随机mRNA序列更负。基因编码区的随机化产生的折叠自由能比原始天然mRNA序列的负值小。密码子选择的随机化，虽然仍保留原始碱基组成，但也导致mRNA稳定性降低。这表明密码子选择中的偏差有利于潜在形成有助于折叠稳定性的mRNA结构。
