Robust genetic codes enhance protein evolvability

Rozhoňová, Hana, Martí-Gómez, Carlos, McCandlish, David M, Payne, Joshua L (May 2024) Robust genetic codes enhance protein evolvability. PLoS Biology, 22 (5). e3002594. ISSN 1545-7885 (Public Dataset)

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Abstract

The standard genetic code defines the rules of translation for nearly every life form on Earth. It also determines the amino acid changes accessible via single-nucleotide mutations, thus influencing protein evolvability-the ability of mutation to bring forth adaptive variation in protein function. One of the most striking features of the standard genetic code is its robustness to mutation, yet it remains an open question whether such robustness facilitates or frustrates protein evolvability. To answer this question, we use data from massively parallel sequence-to-function assays to construct and analyze 6 empirical adaptive landscapes under hundreds of thousands of rewired genetic codes, including those of codon compression schemes relevant to protein engineering and synthetic biology. We find that robust genetic codes tend to enhance protein evolvability by rendering smooth adaptive landscapes with few peaks, which are readily accessible from throughout sequence space. However, the standard genetic code is rarely exceptional in this regard, because many alternative codes render smoother landscapes than the standard code. By constructing low-dimensional visualizations of these landscapes, which each comprise more than 16 million mRNA sequences, we show that such alternative codes radically alter the topological features of the network of high-fitness genotypes. Whereas the genetic codes that optimize evolvability depend to some extent on the detailed relationship between amino acid sequence and protein function, we also uncover general design principles for engineering nonstandard genetic codes for enhanced and diminished evolvability, which may facilitate directed protein evolution experiments and the bio-containment of synthetic organisms, respectively.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > analysis and processing
bioinformatics
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > design
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > design > protein design
evolution
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > mutations
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > McCandlish lab
SWORD Depositor: CSHL Elements
Depositing User: CSHL Elements
Date: 16 May 2024
Date Deposited: 20 May 2024 13:08
Last Modified: 20 May 2024 13:08
PMCID: PMC11098591
Related URLs:
Dataset ID:
  • 10.5281/zenodo.10677993
  • https://github.com/parizkh/rewired_codes_landscapes
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/41551

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