title: OTC and AUL1, two convergent and overlapping genes in the nuclear genome of Arabidopsis thaliana.
abstract: In contrast to bacterial, fungal and vertebrate ornithine transcarbamylases (OTCs; EC 2.1.3.3), very little is known about the enzyme in plants. We report here the isolation of a T-DNA-tagged mutant displaying sensitivity to ornithine, whose characterization has allowed for the identification of several complementary and genomic DNA clones encoding the OTC and auxilin-like 1 (AUL1) proteins of the crucifer Arabidopsis thaliana. Transcript mapping revealed that at least 22 bp within the OTC-AUL1 intercoding region are transcribed from both strands, which makes this one of the rarely described cases of convergent and overlapping transcription units in the nuclear genome of a multicellular eukaryote. Transcription of the OTC gene was shown to be ubiquitous in aerial organs of adult plants, whereas that of AUL1 was obscured by the existence of a putative second copy of the gene. The OTC-AUL1 locus maps at the bottom of chromosome 1.
authors.affiliation: División de Genética, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Campus de San Juan, 03550, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Quesada
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Ponce
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Micol
mesh_terms: D033942:Adaptor Proteins, Vesicular Transport; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D001483:Base Sequence; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D005807:Genes, Overlapping; D018745:Genome, Plant; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009954:Ornithine Carbamoyltransferase / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D033942:Adaptor Proteins, Vesicular Transport; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C401302:Aul1 protein, Arabidopsis; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D010940:Plant Proteins; C036483:T-DNA; D009954:Ornithine Carbamoyltransferase