RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Polymorphism of Genetic Ambigrams
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.02.16.431493
DO 10.1101/2021.02.16.431493
A1 Gytis Dudas
A1 Greg Huber
A1 Michael Wilkinson
A1 David Yllanes
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/02/17/2021.02.16.431493.abstract
AB Double synonyms in the genetic code can be used as a tool to test competing hypotheses regarding ambigrammatic narnavirus genomes. Applying the analysis to recent observations of Culex narnavirus 1 and Zhejiang mosquito virus 3 ambigrammatic viruses indicates that the open reading frame on the complementary strand of the segment coding for RNA-dependent RNA polymerase does not code for a functional protein. Culex narnavirus 1 has been shown to possess a second segment, also ambigrammatic, termed ‘Robin’. We find a comparable segment for Zhejiang mosquito virus 3, a moderately diverged relative of Culex narnavirus 1. Our analysis of Robin polymorphisms suggests that its reverse open reading frame also does not code for a protein. We make a hypothesis about its role.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.