Predicted functional RNAs within coding regions constrain evolutionary rates of yeast proteins.

ABSTRACT: Functional RNAs (fRNAs) are being recognized as an important regulatory component in biological processes. Interestingly, recent computational studies suggest that the number and biological significance of functional RNAs within coding regions (coding fRNAs) may have been underestimated. We hypothesized that such coding fRNAs will impose additional constraint on sequence evolution because the DNA primary sequence has to simultaneously code for functional RNA secondary structures on the messenger RNA in addition to the amino acid codons for the protein sequence. To test this prediction, we first utilized computational methods to predict conserved fRNA secondary structures within multiple species alignments of Saccharomyces sensu strico genomes. We predict that as much as 5% of the genes in

SUBMITTER: Warden CD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2216430 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature