title: The evolution of the RNase P- and RNase MRP-associated RNAs: phylogenetic analysis and nucleotide substitution rate.
abstract: We report a detailed evolutionary study of the RNase P- and RNase MRP- associated RNAs. The analyses were performed on all the available complete sequences of RNase MRP (vertebrates, yeast, plant), nuclear RNase P (vertebrates, yeast), and mitochondrial RNase P (yeast) RNAs. For the first time the phylogenetic distance between these sequences and the nucleotide substitution rates have been quantitatively measured.The analyses were performed by considering the optimal multiple alignments obtained mostly by maximizing similarity between primary sequences. RNase P RNA and MRP RNA display evolutionary dynamics following the molecular clock. Both have similar rates and evolve about one order of magnitude faster than the corresponding small rRNA sequences which have been, so far, the most common gene markers used for phylogeny. However, small rRNAs evolve too slowly to solve close phylogenetic relationships such as those between mammals. The quicker rate of RNase P and MRP RNA allowed us to assess phylogenetic relationships between mammals and other vertebrate species and yeast strains. The phylogenetic data obtained with yeasts perfectly agree with those obtained by functional assays, thus demonstrating the potential offered by this approach for laboratory experiments.
authors.affiliation: Centro di Studio sui Mitocondri e Metabolismo Energetico, CNR. Via Amendola, 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sbisà
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pesole
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tullo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Saccone
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D004722:Endoribonucleases / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000235:genetics*; D000077278:RNA, Mitochondrial; D043262:Ribonuclease P; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D012440:Saccharomyces / Q000235:genetics; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000235:genetics; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D000077278:RNA, Mitochondrial; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins; D012313:RNA; D004722:Endoribonucleases; C058330:mitochondrial RNA-processing endoribonuclease; C468368:RPP14 protein, human; D043262:Ribonuclease P