Co-evolution between Codon Usage and Protein-Protein Interaction in Bacteria

TL;DR

This study reveals a significant correlation between codon usage bias and protein-protein interaction networks across 34 bacterial species, suggesting codon bias influences protein connectivity.

Contribution

It extends previous E.Coli findings to a broader bacterial set, demonstrating that combined codon bias features relate to PPI network topology.

Findings

Genes with similar codon bias are more likely to encode interacting proteins

Multiple aspects of codon bias jointly enhance the prediction of protein interactions

The correlation is consistent across diverse bacterial species

Abstract

We study the correlation between the codon usage bias of genetic sequences and the network features of protein-protein interaction (PPI) in bacterial species. We use PCA techniques in the space of codon bias indices to show that genes with similar patterns of codon usage have a significantly higher probability that their encoded proteins are functionally connected and interacting. Importantly, this signal emerges when multiple aspects of codon bias are taken into account at the same time. The present study extends our previous observations on E.Coli over a wide set of 34 bacteria. These findings could allow for future investigations on the possible effects of codon bias on the topology of the PPI network, with the aim of improving existing bioinformatics methods for predicting protein interactions.