Exploring the selective constraint on the sizes of insertions and deletions in 5' untranslated regions in mammals.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Small insertions and deletions ("indels" with size >/= 100 bp) whose lengths are not multiples of three (non-3n) are strongly constrained and depleted in protein-coding sequences. Such a constraint has never been reported in noncoding genomic regions. In 5'untranslated regions (5'UTRs) in mammalian genomes, upstream start codons (uAUGs) and upstream open reading frames (uORFs) can regulate protein translation. The presence of non-3n indels in uORFs can potentially disrupt the functions of these regulatory elements. We thus hypothesize that natural selection disfavors non-3n indels in 5'UTRs when these regulatory elements are present.

Results

We design the Indel Selection Index to measure the selective constraint on non-3n indels in 5'UTRs. The index controls for t

SUBMITTER: Chen CH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3146882 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature