A thermodynamic theory of codon bias in viral genes

Abstract

The relationship between degeneracy in the genetic code and the occurrence of a strong codon bias is examined, with particular reference to a group of viral genomes. The present paper shows how codon bias may have been imposed by thermodynamic considerations at the time the primitive DNA first formed in the primordial soup. Using a four-state Ising-like model with stacking interactions between successive base pairs, we show how primeval periodic DNA polymers could have arisen the remnants of which are still observed in codon biases today.