Evolution of the human sarcomeric-actin genes: evidence for units of selection within the 3' untranslated regions of the mRNAs.
The complete 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) sequence of the human skeletal-actin gene has been compared with the corresponding regions of the rat and chicken skeletal-actin genes. This comparison reveals that the skeletal-actin 3'UTR is composed of conserved and nonconserved segments. By using genomic Southern transfer blots and thermal stability (Tm) measurements, we found that the cardiac-actin gene 3'UTR also consists of conserved and nonconserved segments. Comparison of human and Xenopus laevis cardiac-actin mRNA sequences confirms the presence of a region of high similarity in the 3'UTR. We conclude that subsegments of the 3'UTRs of both skeletal- and cardiac-actin genes of birds and mammals are under considerable selective pressure. This suggests that these conserved sequences may have functional roles in actin-gene expression or regulation, and that these roles might be different for each actin isoform.
D000199:Actins / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice / Q000235:genetics; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010802:Phylogeny; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D051381:Rats / Q000235:genetics; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D013045:Species Specificity
D000199:Actins; D012333:RNA, Messenger