Dinoflagellate spliced leader RNA genes display a variety of sequences and genomic arrangements.

ABSTRACT: Spliced leader (SL) trans-splicing is a common mRNA processing mechanism in dinoflagellates, in which a 22-nt sequence is transferred from the 5'-end of a small noncoding RNA, the SL RNA, to the 5'-end of mRNA molecules. Although the SL RNA gene was shown initially to be organized as tandem repeats with transcripts of 50-60 nt, shorter than most of their counterparts in other organisms, other gene organizations and transcript lengths were reported subsequently. To address the evolutionary gradient of gene organization complexity, we thoroughly examined transcript and gene organization of the SL RNA in a phylogenetically and ecologically diverse group of dinoflagellates representing four Orders. All these dinoflagellates possessed SL RNA transcripts of 50-60 nt, although in one species addi

SUBMITTER: Zhang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2734150 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature