Is higher-order structure conserved in eukaryotic ribosomal DNA intergenic spacers?
Computer-based structural analysis of the ribosomal DNA intergenic spacer (IGS) from the mosquito Aedes albopictus revealed a potential to form strong and extensive secondary structures throughout a 4.7-kilobase (kb) region. The predicted stability of secondary structures was particularly high within a 3.15-kb region containing 17 tandem 201 base-pair subrepeats. Similarly strong secondary structure potential was also found when IGS subrepeats were analyzed from 17 phylogenetically diverse eukaryotes, including vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants. Conservation of higher-order structure potential in the IGS region of ribosomal DNA may reflect evolutionary and functional constraints on chromatin organization, transcriptional regulation of the ribosomal RNA genes, and/or transcript processing and stability.
Baldridge
G D
GD
Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108.
Dalton
M W
MW
Fallon
A M
AM
D000330:Aedes / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010802:Phylogeny; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics*; D013045:Species Specificity
D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal