Preferential expression of scores of functionally and evolutionarily diverse DNA and RNA-binding proteins during Oxytricha trifallax macronuclear development.

ABSTRACT: During its sexual reproduction, the stichotrichous ciliate Oxytricha trifallax orchestrates a remarkable transformation of one of the newly formed germline micronuclear genomes. Hundreds of thousands of gene pieces are stitched together, excised from chromosomes, and replicated dozens of times to yield a functional somatic macronuclear genome composed of ~16,000 distinct DNA molecules that typically encode a single gene. Little is known about the proteins that carry out this process. We profiled mRNA expression as a function of macronuclear development and identified hundreds of mRNAs preferentially expressed at specific times during the program. We find that a disproportionate number of these mRNAs encode proteins that are involved in DNA and RNA functions. Many mRNAs preferentially expre

SUBMITTER: Neeb ZT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5312943 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature