Analyzing Codon Usage Patterns and Host Adaptation Strategies of Human Norovirus

Abstract

Norovirus is responsible for a majority of acute viral gastroenteritis cases worldwide, with significant morbidity and socioeconomic burden. There are evolutionary aspects which affect the codon usage patterns and host adaptation strategies of Norovirus. These aspects are still poorly understood. The present research aims to conduct a robust base compositional analysis of Norovirus to reveal its adaptive intricacies to the human host. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the codon usage bias of Norovirus to discover the interplay between translational selection, mutational pressure, and mechanisms related to host-specific adaptations. Our findings reveal a strong compositional bias favoring adenine (A)- and uracil (U)- rich codons observed in the genomes of Norovirus. Norovirus codon preferences and the codons which matched with the tRNA pool of the human host suggest an efficient translation of viral genomes. A suppression of CpG and UpA dinucleotides were also discovered, which can be considered as a pattern linked to immune evasion strategy of the virus. The insights of Norovirus codon usage dynamics increases our understanding of viral evolution and host-pathogen interactions. It also provides a foundation for the rational design of codon-optimized vaccines and codon pair-deoptimized live-attenuated vaccines. The research emphasizes on the necessity of codon usage analysis in order to predict the fitness of the virus in order to prepare novel antiviral interventions and codon pair deoptimization based synthetic attenuated virus engineering against Norovirus.