Sequence and analysis of chromosome I of the amitochondriate intracellular parasite Encephalitozoon cuniculi (Microspora).

ABSTRACT: A DNA sequencing program was applied to the small (<3 Mb) genome of the microsporidian Encephalitozoon cuniculi, an amitochondriate eukaryotic parasite of mammals, and the sequence of the smallest chromosome was determined. The approximately 224-kb E. cuniculi chromosome I exhibits a dyad symmetry characterized by two identical 37-kb subtelomeric regions which are divergently oriented and extend just downstream of the inverted copies of an 8-kb duplicated cluster of six genes. Each subtelomeric region comprises a single 16S-23S rDNA transcription unit, flanked by various tandemly repeated sequences, and ends with approximately 1 kb of heterogeneous telomeric repeats. The central (or core) region of the chromosome harbors a highly compact arrangement of 132 potential protein-coding genes pl

SUBMITTER: Peyret P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC311017 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature