Aminoacyl-tRNA(anticodon): codon adaptation in human and rabbit reticulocytes.

A highly significant correlation was observed between the relative abundances of isoacceptor aminoacyl-tRNAs in human and rabbit reticulocytes and the frequency of their cognate codons in alpha and beta globin mRNAs from the respective tissue. The correlation coefficient (r value) for human reticulocytes was 0.78 and for rabbit reticulocytes was 0.88. These results provide strong evidence that the amounts of most isoacceptors in human and rabbit reticulocytes are adapted to requirements for translating their cognate codons in globin mRNA, i.e., there is an aa-tRNA(anticodon): codon adaptation in these tissues.