Analysis of codon usage: positional preference in various organisms.

The degree of preference of the four nucleotides C, G, A and U in the three positions I, II and III of the codons of 15137 genes of various individual organisms is examined using the nucleotide sequence data obtained from the GenBank Genetic Sequence Data Bank (Release 65.0, Sep., 1990). It is found that G, A and C, are preferred maximally in the three positions respectively. Similarly, U, G and A are preferred minimally in these positions. The analysis shows a correlation in the positional base preference which discriminates against codons with the same base in all three positions or in the adjacent positions.