title: 'Compensatory slippage' in the evolution of ribosomal RNA genes.
abstract: The distribution patterns of shared short repetitive motifs in the expansion segments of the large subunit rRNA genes of different species show that these segments are coevolving as a set and that in two examined vertebrate species the RNA secondary structures are conserved as a consequence of runs of motifs in one region being compensated by complementary motifs in another. These unusual processes, involving replication-slippage, have implications for the evolution of ribosomal RNA and for the use of the rDNA multigene family as a 'molecular clock' for assessing relationships between species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hancock
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Dover
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D012984:Software; D014982:Xenopus laevis
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal