COMPARISON OF THE PATTERNS OF CODON USAGE AND BIAS BETWEEN BRUGIA, ECHINOCOCCUS, ONCHOCERCA AND SCHISTOSOMA SPECIES

Patterns of codon usage and bias were compared among taxa of the genera Brugia, Echinococcus, Onchocerca and Schistosoma by metric multidimensional scaling and three commonly used indices of bias: N-c, GC(3S) and B. The overall codon usage for each taxon was compared, as was the codon usage for each individual gene within the taxa. Differences in the patterns of codon usage observed between taxa were dependent on the overall base composition of the genes analysed. The codon usage of Echinococcus was distinct from that of the other taxa. Furthermore, the pattern of codon usage detected by the average codon usage summed across all genes for each taxon was not shown by all genes from that taxon.