Rapid functional diversification in the structurally conserved ELAV family of neuronal RNA binding proteins.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Drosophila gene embryonic lethal abnormal visual system (elav) is the prototype of a gene family present in all metazoans. Its members encode structurally conserved neuronal proteins with three RNA Recognition Motifs (RRM) but they paradoxically act at diverse levels of post-transcriptional regulation. In an attempt to understand the history of this family, we searched for orthologs in eleven completely sequenced genomes, including those of humans, D. melanogaster and C. elegans, for which cDNAs are available.

Results

We analyzed 23 orthologs/paralogs of elav, and found evidence of gain/loss of gene copy number. For one set of genes, including elav itself, the coding sequences are free of introns and their products most resemble ELAV. The remaining genes show

SUBMITTER: Samson ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2529313 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature