Evidence for deep phylogenetic conservation of exonic splice-related constraints: splice-related skews at exonic ends in the brown alga Ectocarpus are common and resemble those seen in humans.

ABSTRACT: The control of RNA splicing is often modulated by exonic motifs near splice sites. Chief among these are exonic splice enhancers (ESEs). Well-described ESEs in mammals are purine rich and cause predictable skews in codon and amino acid usage toward exonic ends. Looking across species, those with relatively abundant intronic sequence are those with the more profound end of exon skews, indicative of exonization of splice site recognition. To date, the only intron-rich species that have been analyzed are mammals, precluding any conclusions about the likely ancestral condition. Here, we examine the patterns of codon and amino acid usage in the vicinity of exon-intron junctions in the brown alga Ectocarpus siliculosus, a species with abundant large introns, known SR proteins, and classical spli

SUBMITTER: Wu X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3787667 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature