A metazoan/plant-like capping enzyme and cap modified nucleotides in the unicellular eukaryote Trichomonas vaginalis.

ABSTRACT: The cap structure of eukaryotic messenger RNAs is initially elaborated through three enzymatic reactions: hydrolysis of the 5'-triphosphate, transfer of guanosine through a 5'-5' triphosphate linkage and N7-methylation of the guanine cap. Three distinctive enzymes catalyze each reaction in various microbial eukaryotes, whereas the first two enzymes are fused into a single polypeptide in metazoans and plants. In addition to the guanosine cap, adjacent nucleotides are 2'-O-ribose methylated in metazoa and plants, but not in yeast. Analyses of various cap structures have suggested a linear phylogenetic trend of complexity. These findings have led to a model in which plants and metazoa evolved a two-component capping apparatus and modification of adjacent nucleotides while many microbial eukar

SUBMITTER: Simoes-Barbosa A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2904801 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature