Dataset Information

RNA editing in the free-living bodonid Bodo saltans.

ABSTRACT: In parasitic kinetoplastid protozoa, mitochondrial (mt) mRNAs are post-transcriptionally edited by insertion and deletion of uridylate residues, the information being provided by guide (g) RNAs. In order to further explore the role and evolutionary history of this process, we searched for editing in mt RNAs of the free-living bodonid Bodo saltans. We found extensive editing in the transcript for NADH dehydrogenase (ND) subunit 5, which is unedited in trypanosomatids. In contrast, B.saltans cytochrome c oxidase (cox) subunit 2 and maxicircle unidentified reading frame (MURF) 2 RNAs display limited editing in the same regions as their trypanosomatid counterparts. A putative intramolecular cox2 gRNA and the gene for gMURF2-I directing the insertion of only one U in the 5' editing domain of MURF2 RNA, are conserved in B.saltans. This lends (further) evolutionary support to the proposed role of these sequences as gRNAs. Phylogenetic analysis showed that B.saltans is more closely related to trypanosomatids than the cryptobiids Trypanoplasma borreli and Cryptobia helicis, in line with the trypanosomatid-like cox2 and MURF2 RNA editing patterns. Nevertheless, other features like the apparent absence of a catenated mtDNA network, are shared with bodonid and cryptobiid species. ND5 RNA editing may represent yet another example of editing 'on the way out' during kinetoplastid evolution, but in view of the fact that cox2 RNA is unedited in T. borreli and C.helicis, we infer that the editing of this RNA may have arisen relatively recently. Our results provide the first examples of RNA editing in a free-living kinetoplastid, indicating that there is no direct link between U-insertion/deletion editing and a parasitic lifestyle.

SUBMITTER: Blom D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC147379 | biostudies-other | 1998 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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RNA editing in the free-living bodonid Bodo saltans.

Blom D D de Haan A A van den Berg M M Sloof P P Jirku M M Lukes J J Benne R R

Nucleic acids research 19980301 5

In parasitic kinetoplastid protozoa, mitochondrial (mt) mRNAs are post-transcriptionally edited by insertion and deletion of uridylate residues, the information being provided by guide (g) RNAs. In order to further explore the role and evolutionary history of this process, we searched for editing in mt RNAs of the free-living bodonid Bodo saltans. We found extensive editing in the transcript for NADH dehydrogenase (ND) subunit 5, which is unedited in trypanosomatids. In contrast, B.saltans cytoc ...[more]

PMID: 9469817

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Project description:BackgroundThe genus Macrostomum consists of small free-living flatworms and contains Macrostomum lignano, which has been used in investigations of ageing, stem cell biology, bioadhesion, karyology, and sexual selection in hermaphrodites. Two types of mating behaviour occur within this genus. Some species, including M. lignano, mate via reciprocal copulation, where, in a single mating, both partners insert their male copulatory organ into the female storage organ and simultaneously donate and receive sperm. Other species mate via hypodermic insemination, where worms use a needle-like copulatory organ to inject sperm into the tissue of the partner. These contrasting mating behaviours are associated with striking differences in sperm and copulatory organ morphology. Here we expand the genomic resources within the genus to representatives of both behaviour types and investigate whether genes vary in their rate of evolution depending on their putative function.ResultsWe present de novo assembled transcriptomes of three Macrostomum species, namely M. hystrix, a close relative of M. lignano that mates via hypodermic insemination, M. spirale, a more distantly related species that mates via reciprocal copulation, and finally M. pusillum, which represents a clade that is only distantly related to the other three species and also mates via hypodermic insemination. We infer 23,764 sets of homologous genes and annotate them using experimental evidence from M. lignano. Across the genus, we identify 521 gene families with conserved patterns of differential expression between juvenile vs. adult worms and 185 gene families with a putative expression in the testes that are restricted to the two reciprocally mating species. Further, we show that homologs of putative reproduction-related genes have a higher protein divergence across the four species than genes lacking such annotations and that they are more difficult to identify across the four species, indicating that these genes evolve more rapidly, while genes involved in neoblast function are more conserved.ConclusionsThis study improves the genus Macrostomum as a model system, by providing resources for the targeted investigation of gene function in a broad range of species. And we, for the first time, show that reproduction-related genes evolve at an accelerated rate in flatworms.

Dataset Information

RNA editing in the free-living bodonid Bodo saltans.

Publications

RNA editing in the free-living bodonid Bodo saltans.

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