title: Sequence homologies among mitochondrial DNA-coded URF2, URF4 and URF5.
abstract: Amino acid sequences coded for by 13 different genes of mammalian mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) including 8 unassigned open reading frames (URFs) were compared in pairs. It was found that significant homologies exist among the amino acid sequences of the three URFs (URF2, URF4 and URF5) with a probability of occurrence of less than 10(-5). This result strongly suggests that the 3 URFs evolved from a single ancestral gene by a series of gene duplications. A phylogenetic tree based on the alignment of the URF sequences from mammals, an insect, a fungus and protozoa revealed a very remote divergence of the 3 URFs, going back to a time before separations of animal/protozoa and animal/fungus.
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001221:Aspartate Carbamoyltransferase; D002223:Carbamoyl-Phosphate Synthase (Glutamine-Hydrolyzing); D002417:Cattle; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000378:metabolism*; D004080:Dihydroorotase; D004330:Drosophila; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes; D010802:Phylogeny; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: C033626:CAD trifunctional enzyme; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes; D011506:Proteins; D001221:Aspartate Carbamoyltransferase; D004080:Dihydroorotase; D002223:Carbamoyl-Phosphate Synthase (Glutamine-Hydrolyzing)