title: Introns and the origin of nucleus-cytosol compartmentalization.
abstract: The origin of the eukaryotic nucleus marked a seminal evolutionary transition. We propose that the nuclear envelope's incipient function was to allow mRNA splicing, which is slow, to go to completion so that translation, which is fast, would occur only on mRNA with intact reading frames. The rapid, fortuitous spread of introns following the origin of mitochondria is adduced as the selective pressure that forged nucleus-cytosol compartmentalization.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Botany III, University of Düsseldorf, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. w.martin@uni-duesseldorf.de
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Eugene V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Koonin
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D002451:Cell Compartmentation / Q000502:physiology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism*; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D009685:Nuclear Envelope / Q000502:physiology; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012270:Ribosomes / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D012313:RNA