Spliced leader RNA trans-splicing discovered in copepods.

ABSTRACT: Copepods are one of the most abundant metazoans in the marine ecosystem, constituting a critical link in aquatic food webs and contributing significantly to the global carbon budget, yet molecular mechanisms of their gene expression are not well understood. Here we report the detection of spliced leader (SL) trans-splicing in calanoid copepods. We have examined nine species of wild-caught copepods from Jiaozhou Bay, China that represent the major families of the calanoids. All these species contained a common 46-nt SL (CopepodSL). We further determined the size of CopepodSL precursor RNA (slRNA; 108-158 nt) through genomic analysis and 3'-RACE technique, which was confirmed by RNA blot analysis. Structure modeling showed that the copepod slRNA folded into typical slRNA secondary structures

SUBMITTER: Yang F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4664967 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature