White rhinoceros codon usage

Ceratotherium simum

Synonymous codon usage in White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum), computed from 201 RefSeq coding sequences. Third positions are 56.1% G or C, below the median across the 26 organisms catalogued on this site, making it 13th of 26 by that measure. An effective number of codons of 53.5 indicates weak bias: the closer that value sits to 61, the more evenly an organism spreads its synonymous choices.

56.1%GC3 content
53.5Effective codons (Nc)
201Coding sequences
13/26GC3 rank here

Scope: nuclear genes only

NCBI table 1 (Standard). Do not apply these frequencies to mitochondrial genes, where AGA, AGG, ATA and TGA carry different meanings. The four reassignments.

What distinguishes this table

The most constrained choice in White rhinoceros is glutamine: of its 2 synonymous codons, CAG takes 75% of the family. Aspartate sits at the other end, spread almost evenly across its options (evenness 1.00 against 0.81 for glutamine). Those two families are where a codon-optimizer has the most and the least room to move.

Measured across all 59 sense codons, this table correlates most closely with Koala (r = 0.992) and least with M. tuberculosis (r = 0.768). A sequence tuned for the first would need little adjustment to move here; one tuned for the second would need a great deal.

Relative to the average across the 26 organisms on this site, White rhinoceros leans hardest on TGT (+0.058 against the mean) and avoids TGC most (-0.058). Those two are the codons that most distinguish this table from the others.

Preferred and avoided codons

Amino acid PreferredFreqRSCU AvoidedFreqRSCU
Alanine AGCC0.4261.71GCG0.0850.34
Arginine RAGA0.2161.30CGT0.0800.48
Asparagine NAAC0.5161.03AAT0.4840.97
Aspartate DGAT0.5051.01GAC0.4950.99
Cysteine CTGT0.5181.04TGC0.4820.96
Glutamate EGAG0.6031.21GAA0.3970.79
Glutamine QCAG0.7501.50CAA0.2510.50
Glycine GGGC0.3591.44GGT0.1580.63
Histidine HCAC0.5921.18CAT0.4080.82
Isoleucine IATC0.4841.45ATA0.1370.41
Leucine LCTG0.4032.42TTA0.0690.41
Lysine KAAG0.5451.09AAA0.4550.91
Phenylalanine FTTC0.5431.09TTT0.4570.91
Proline PCCC0.3371.35CCG0.1210.48
Serine STCC0.2151.29TCG0.0460.28
Threonine TACC0.3571.43ACG0.0850.34
Tyrosine YTAC0.5301.06TAT0.4700.94
Valine VGTG0.4531.81GTA0.1360.54

Full codon usage table

Amino acidCodonFrequencyRSCUShare of family
Alanine AGCC0.42641.706
GCT0.27931.117
GCA0.20890.836
GCG0.08540.342
Arginine RAGA0.21641.298
AGG0.21501.290
CGC0.19971.198
CGG0.19841.190
CGA0.09090.545
CGT0.07950.477
Asparagine NAAC0.51631.033
AAT0.48370.967
Aspartate DGAT0.50481.010
GAC0.49520.990
Cysteine CTGT0.51821.036
TGC0.48180.964
Glutamate EGAG0.60291.206
GAA0.39710.794
Glutamine QCAG0.74951.499
CAA0.25050.501
Glycine GGGC0.35951.438
GGG0.26051.042
GGA0.22220.889
GGT0.15780.631
Histidine HCAC0.59231.185
CAT0.40770.815
Isoleucine IATC0.48361.451
ATT0.37991.140
ATA0.13650.409
Leucine LCTG0.40322.419
CTC0.20511.231
TTG0.13750.825
CTT0.11440.686
CTA0.07140.428
TTA0.06850.411
Lysine KAAG0.54481.090
AAA0.45520.910
Methionine MATG1.00001.000
Phenylalanine FTTC0.54281.086
TTT0.45720.914
Proline PCCC0.33711.348
CCA0.27521.101
CCT0.26681.067
CCG0.12090.484
Serine STCC0.21471.288
AGC0.21341.280
TCT0.20661.240
TCA0.16480.989
AGT0.15430.926
TCG0.04620.277
Threonine TACC0.35741.430
ACA0.29841.194
ACT0.25941.038
ACG0.08470.339
Tryptophan WTGG1.00001.000
Tyrosine YTAC0.52971.059
TAT0.47030.941
Valine VGTG0.45261.810
GTC0.24400.976
GTT0.16750.670
GTA0.13600.544

Provenance

Computed from 201 RefSeq coding sequences for Ceratotherium simum, sampled and counted codon by codon. Frequencies are relative within each amino acid family. Page generated 2026-08-09.

The full derivation of GC3, RSCU and the effective number of codons, along with the limits of each, is set out once in the methods note rather than repeated on every page.

Use this table

Nucleora codon-optimizes a coding sequence against this table directly, then folds the result and reports where structure would interfere with expression.

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