Comparative analysis of codon usage patterns in 16 chloroplast genomes of suborder Halimedineae

The Halimedineae are marine green macroalgae that play crucial roles as primary producers in various habitats, including coral reefs, rocky shores, embayments, lagoons, and seagrass beds. Several tropical species have calcified thalli, which contribute significantly to the formation of coral reefs. In this study, we investigated the codon usage patterns and the main factors influencing codon usage bias in 16 chloroplast genomes of the suborder Halimedineae. Nucleotide composition analysis revealed that the codons of these species were enriched in A/U bases and preferred to end in A/U bases, and the distribution of GC content followed a trend of GC1 > GC2 > GC3. 30 optimal codons encoding 17 amino acids were identified, and most of the optimal codons and all of the over-expressed codons preferentially ended with A/U. The neutrality plot, effective number of codons (ENc) plot, and parity rule 2 (PR2) plot analysis indicated that natural selection played a major role in shaping codon usage bias of the most Halimedineae species. The genetic relationships based on their RSCU values and chloroplast protein-coding genes showed the closely related species have similar codon usage patterns. This study describes, for the first time, the codon usage patterns and characterization of Halimedineae chloroplast genomes, and provides new insights into the evolution of this suborder.