Table of Contents

ABSTRACT

Codon bias refers to the nonrandom usage of synonymous codons for encoding amino acids in organisms. As it is related to translation efficiency, this phenomenon implicates important biological sense. Fungi are good hosts for the expression of foreign genes, because of its fast growth and reproduction, posttranslational processing and closer homology with higher eukaryotic organisms (plants and vertebrates). Currently, researchers have encountered low expression level in many fungi transgenic research, so it is of great practical significance and economical value to investigate the application of codon bias analysis in foreign gene expression in fungi. In this review, we summarize the basic theories and analysis methods about codon bias, and introduce the application of codon bias analysis in foreign gene expression in three categories of fungi – yeasts, molds and mushrooms respectively.

Keywords: codon bias; gene expression; fungi