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Comparative structure analysis of vertebrate ribonuclease P RNA.

ABSTRACT: Ribonuclease P cleaves 5'-precursor sequences from pre-tRNAs. All cellular RNase P holoenzymes contain homologous RNA elements; the eucaryal RNase P RNA, in contrast to the bacterial RNA, is catalytically inactive in the absence of the protein component(s). To understand the function of eucaryal RNase P RNA, knowledge of its structure is needed. Considerable effort has been devoted to comparative studies of the structure of this RNA from diverse organisms, including eucaryotes, primarily fungi, but also a limited set of vertebrates. The substantial differences in the sequences and structures of the vertebrate RNAs from those of other organisms have made it difficult to align the vertebrate sequences, thus limiting comparative studies. To expand our understanding of the structure of diverse RNase P RNAs, we have isolated by PCR and sequenced 13 partial RNase P RNA genes from 11 additional vertebrate taxa representing most extant major vertebrate lineages. Based on a recently proposed structure of the core elements of RNase P RNA, we aligned the sequences and propose a minimum consensus secondary structure for the vertebrate RNase P RNA.

SUBMITTER: Pitulle C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC147718 | biostudies-other | 1998 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Comparative structure analysis of vertebrate ribonuclease P RNA.

Pitulle C C Garcia-Paris M M Zamudio K R KR Pace N R NR

Nucleic acids research 19980701 14

Ribonuclease P cleaves 5'-precursor sequences from pre-tRNAs. All cellular RNase P holoenzymes contain homologous RNA elements; the eucaryal RNase P RNA, in contrast to the bacterial RNA, is catalytically inactive in the absence of the protein component(s). To understand the function of eucaryal RNase P RNA, knowledge of its structure is needed. Considerable effort has been devoted to comparative studies of the structure of this RNA from diverse organisms, including eucaryotes, primarily fungi, ...[more]

PMID: 9649615

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Project description:BackgroundThe vertebrate brain is composed of several interconnected, functionally distinct structures and much debate has surrounded the basic question of how these structures evolve. On the one hand, according to the 'mosaic evolution hypothesis', because of the elevated metabolic cost of brain tissue, selection is expected to target specific structures mediating the cognitive abilities which are being favored. On the other hand, the 'concerted evolution hypothesis' argues that developmental constraints limit such mosaic evolution and instead the size of the entire brain varies in response to selection on any of its constituent parts. To date, analyses of these hypotheses of brain evolution have been limited to mammals and birds; excluding Actinopterygii, the basal and most diverse class of vertebrates. Using a combination of recently developed phylogenetic multivariate allometry analyses and comparative methods that can identify distinct rates of evolution, even in highly correlated traits, we studied brain structure evolution in a highly variable clade of ray-finned fishes; the Tanganyikan cichlids.ResultsTotal brain size explained 86% of the variance in brain structure volume in cichlids, a lower proportion than what has previously been reported for mammals. Brain structures showed variation in pair-wise allometry suggesting some degree of independence in evolutionary changes in size. This result is supported by variation among structures on the strength of their loadings on the principal size axis of the allometric analysis. The rate of evolution analyses generally supported the results of the multivariate allometry analyses, showing variation among several structures in their evolutionary patterns. The olfactory bulbs and hypothalamus were found to evolve faster than other structures while the dorsal medulla presented the slowest evolutionary rate.ConclusionOur results favor a mosaic model of brain evolution, as certain structures are evolving in a modular fashion, with a small but non-negligible influence of concerted evolution in cichlid fishes. Interestingly, one of the structures presenting distinct evolutionary patterns within cichlids, the olfactory bulbs, has also been shown to evolve differently from other structures in mammals. Hence, our results for a basal vertebrate clade also point towards a conserved developmental plan for all vertebrates.

Dataset Information

Comparative structure analysis of vertebrate ribonuclease P RNA.

Publications

Comparative structure analysis of vertebrate ribonuclease P RNA.

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