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Unusual Codon Bias in Vinyl Chloride Reductase Genes of Dehalococcoides Species ^,

Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering,¹ Statistics,² Biological Sciences,³ Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5429⁴

Received 27 November 2006/ Accepted 3 February 2007

Vinyl chloride reductases (VC-RDase) are the key enzymes for complete microbial reductive dehalogenation of chloroethenes, including the groundwater pollutants tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene. Analysis of the codon usage of the VC-RDase genes vcrA and bvcA showed that these genes are highly unusual and are characterized by a low G+C fraction at the third position. The third position of codons in VC-RDase genes is biased toward the nucleotide T, even though available Dehalococcoides genome sequences indicate the absence of any tRNAs matching codons that end in T. The comparatively high level of abnormality in the codon usage of VC-RDase genes suggests an evolutionary history that is different from that of most other Dehalococcoides genes.

Published ahead of print on 16 February 2007.

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