Codon Usage Biasness - Cause, Consequences and Implications in Evolutionary Development

Codon Usage Biasness (CUB) in genomes is a general feature of most organisms and is imposed by evolutionary forces to increase the fitness. By analyzing codon usage data the basics of molecular biology can be understood as it has both practical and theoretical implications. With the development of new technologies, the studies converged on disentangling the factors that aid selective preference of the codon. Various known analysis techniques made it easier to understand the causal parameters of codon bias. Therefore, it would be logical to assume that knowledge of codon biasness has a major role in adding to our knowledge regarding the physiological, biochemical and molecular behavior of the organism. In this review, the major evolutionary forces that support CUB are discussed. The latest insights and findings in relation to codon usage bias like tRNA abundance, genome composition, expression of gene, stability, and structure of mRNA, time and environment are addressed.