Comparative genomic analysis of trypanosomatid protists illuminates an extensive change in the nuclear genetic code
The genetic code, assigning amino acids to codons, is almost universal, yet an increasing number of its alterations keep emerging, mostly in organelles and unicellular eukaryotes. One such case is the trypanosomatid genus <i>Blastocrithidia</i>, where all three stop codons were reassigned to amino acids, with UAA also serving as a sole termination signal. We conducted a comparative analysis of four <i>Blastocrithidia</i> species, all with the same non-canonical genetic code, and their close relatives of the genus <i>Obscuromonas</i>, which retain the canonical code. This across-genome comparison allowed the identification of key traits associated with genetic code reassignment in <i>Blastocrithidia</i>. This work provides insight into the evolutionary steps, facilitating an extensive departure from the canonical genetic code that occurred independently in several eukaryotic lineages.
Authors
- Bojana Stojanova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6761-7756)
- Zoltán Füssy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0820-6359)
- Amanda T. S. Albanaz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6348-2179)
- Igor B. Rogozin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0802-4851)
- Natalya Kraeva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9111-5265)
- Zdeněk Paris (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1019-7719)
- Jan Votýpka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0552-9363)
- Leoš Shivaya Valášek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8123-8667)
- Viktoria V. Spodareva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7713-1824)
- Alexander O. Frolov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1444-3104)
- Vyacheslav Yurchenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4765-3263)
- Alexei Yu. Kostygov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1516-437X)
- Anzhelika Butenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8685-2404)
- Marina N. Malysheva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0921-4270)
- Kristína Záhonová (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5766-0267)
- Ambar Kachale (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0087-4280)
- Julius Lukeš (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0578-6618)
- Alexandra Zakharova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7621-051X)
- Arnau Galan
Institutions
- Sewanee: The University of the South (US)
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US)
- University of Alberta (CA)
- University of Ostrava (CZ)
- Czech Academy of Sciences (CZ)
- Charles University (CZ)
- Zoological Institute (RU)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Microbiology (CZ)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Biology Centre (CZ)
Publication Details
- Journal
- mBio
- Published
- 2025-04-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00885-25
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.42