Widespread organisation of C. elegans genes into operons: fact or function?
A recent report by Blumenthal et al. provides convincing evidence that at least 15% of Caenorhabditis elegans genes are co-transcribed within over a thousand operons. Polycistronic transcription of gene clusters is very rare in eukaryotes. The widespread occurrence of operons in C. elegans thus raises some interesting questions about the origin and function of these multigenic transcriptional units.
Nimmo
Rachael
R
Genetics Unit, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, UK.
Woollard
Alison
A
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics*; D016678:Genome; D005810:Multigene Family; D009876:Operon; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D014158:Transcription, Genetic