The spread of the first introns in proto-eukaryotic paralogs.

ABSTRACT: Spliceosomal introns are a unique feature of eukaryotic genes. Previous studies have established that many introns were present in the protein-coding genes of the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA). Intron positions shared between genes that duplicated before LECA could in principle provide insight into the emergence of the first introns. In this study we use ancestral intron position reconstructions in two large sets of duplicated families to systematically identify these ancient paralogous intron positions. We found that 20-35% of introns inferred to have been present in LECA were shared between paralogs. These shared introns, which likely preceded ancient duplications, were wide spread across different functions, with the notable exception of nuclear transport. Since we observed a c

SUBMITTER: Vosseberg J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9120149 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature