About the Workshop
The degeneracy of genetic code allows 18 of the 20 standard amino acids to be encoded by two to six synonymous codons. Codon usage bias, the preference for certain synonymous codons is a feature of all eukaryotic and prokaryotic genomes. Although synonymous codon mutations were once thought to be silent, in recent years codon usage bias has emerged as a key factor in genome regulation. Global patterns of codon usage are among the strongest known predictors of gene expression levels, and individual synonymous mutations were shown to influence microbial fitness and human disease. Codon usage has now been recognized as a new genetic code that influences diverse biological processes including translational efficiency and fidelity, translation kinetics, co-translational protein folding, mRNA decay, mRNA structure, transcription, splicing and genome evolution through translation-dependent and translation-independent mechanisms. This EMBO Workshop will be dedicated to the understanding of the functions of codon usage, mechanisms of codon usage-mediated regulatory processes, and evolution of codon usage biases. The EMBO Workshop will focus on (1) gene expression, mRNA stability and structure and transcription; (2) translation initiation, elongation rates and translation efficiency; (3) co-translational protein folding; (4) fitness, genome evolution and computational modeling. It will have a substantial focus on new method development (experimental and computational) to determine the effects of synonymous codon usage on different cellular processes. This EMBO Workshop will be the first international conference dedicated to the understanding of the codon usage bias phenomenon. It will bring together a broad selection of scientists from around the globe working to understand the myriad ways that codon usage bias influences biology. Some oral presentations will be selected from the submitted abstracts.
Although we strongly favor in-person attendance to promote scientific exchange, those who cannot travel can attend the conference virtually at a discounted fee.
About EMBO Courses and Workshops
EMBO Courses and Workshops are selected for their excellent scientific quality and timelines, provision of good networking activities for all participants and speaker gender diversity (at least 40% of speakers must be from the underrepresented gender).
Organisers are encouraged to implement measures to make the meeting environmentally more sustainable.
