The genes for small nucleolar RNAs in Trypanosoma brucei are organized in clusters and are transcribed as a polycistronic RNA.
Because the organization of snoRNA genes in vertebrates, plants and yeast is diverse, we investigated the organization of snoRNA genes in a distantly related organism, Trypanosoma brucei. We have characterized the second example of a snoRNA gene cluster that is tandemly repeated in the T.BRUCEI: genome. The genes encoding the box C/D snoRNAs TBR12, TBR6, TBR4 and TBR2 make up the cluster. In a genomic organization unique to trypanosomes, there are at least four clusters of these four snoRNA genes tandemly repeated in the T. BRUCEI: genome. We show for the first time that the genes encoding snoRNAs in both this cluster and the SLA cluster are transcribed in an unusual way as a polycistronic RNA.
Dunbar
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Department of Therapeutic Radiology and Department of Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, PO Box 208040, New Haven, CT 06520-8040, USA.
Chen
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Wormsley
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Baserga
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SJ
D000818:Animals; D017101:Bacteriophage P1 / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D005796:Genes; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016053:RNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D020537:RNA, Small Nucleolar / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014346:Trypanosoma brucei brucei / Q000235:genetics*
D016053:RNA, Protozoan; D020537:RNA, Small Nucleolar; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes