Codon usage inCryptosporidium parvumdiffers from that in other Eimeriorina

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Abstract
SUMMARY: Codon usage ofCrytosporidium parvumwas compared with those of other EimeriorinaToxoplasma gondiiandEimeria tenellaand revealed a biased use of synonymous codons with a preference for NNU (40·0%) and NNA (33·4%). There was no close resemblance of the codon usage ofC. parvumtoT. gondii(correlation coefficient, r = 0·14) orE. tenella(r = 0·14) but it was similar toEntamoeba histolytica(r = 0·75) andPlasmodium falciparum(r = 0·5). Analysis of the codon usage in homologous gene sequences (actin, β-tubulin) also failed to reveal a close relationship betweenC. parvumandT. gondiiorE. tenella. The low usage codons inC. parvumwere most frequently used codons inT. gondiiandE. tenella. These observations are consistent with 18S rRNA sequence analysis which shows no close relationship ofCryptosporidiumwith other Eimeriorina (Sarcocystis, ToxoplasmaandEimeria) and questions the validity of the current classification ofC. parvum.