MicroRNAs and the evolution of complex multicellularity: identification of a large, diverse complement of microRNAs in the brown alga Ectocarpus.

ABSTRACT: There is currently convincing evidence that microRNAs have evolved independently in at least six different eukaryotic lineages: animals, land plants, chlorophyte green algae, demosponges, slime molds and brown algae. MicroRNAs from different lineages are not homologous but some structural features are strongly conserved across the eukaryotic tree allowing the application of stringent criteria to identify novel microRNA loci. A large set of 63 microRNA families was identified in the brown alga Ectocarpus based on mapping of RNA-seq data and nine microRNAs were confirmed by northern blotting. The Ectocarpus microRNAs are highly diverse at the sequence level with few multi-gene families, and do not tend to occur in clusters but exhibit some highly conserved structural features such as the pre

SUBMITTER: Tarver JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4513859 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature