Functional heritage: the evolution of chimeric RNA into a gene.

ABSTRACT: Once believed to be unique features of neoplasia, chimeric RNAs are now being discovered in normal physiology. We speculated that some chimeric RNAs may be functional precursors of genes, and that forming chimeric RNA at the transcriptional level may be a 'trial' mechanism before the functional element is fixed into the genome. Supporting this idea, we identified a chimeric RNA, HNRNPA1L2-SUGT1 (H-S), whose sequence is highly similar to that of a 'pseudogene' MRPS31P5. Sequence analysis revealed that MRPS31P5 transcript is more similar to H-S chimeric RNA than its 'parent' gene, MRPS31. Evolutionarily, H-S precedes MRPS31P5, as it can be detected bioinformatically and experimentally in marmosets, which do not yet possess MRPS31P5 in t

SUBMITTER: Wu H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6948976 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature