Tick-box for 3'-end formation of mitochondrial transcripts in Ixodida, basal chelicerates and Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: According to the tRNA punctuation model, the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) of mammals and arthropods is transcribed as large polycistronic precursors that are maturated by endonucleolytic cleavage at tRNA borders and RNA polyadenylation. Starting from the newly sequenced mtDNA of Ixodes ricinus and using a combination of mitogenomics and transcriptional analyses, we found that in all currently-sequenced tick lineages (Prostriata, Metastriata and Argasidae) the 3'-end of the polyadenylated nad1 and rrnL transcripts does not follow the tRNA punctuation model and is located upstream of a degenerate 17-bp DNA motif. A slightly different motif is also present downstream the 3'-end of nad1 transcripts in the primitive chelicerate Limulus polyphemus and in Drosophila species, indicating the ancien

SUBMITTER: Montagna M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3471875 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature