Distinctive structures between chimpanzee and human in a brain noncoding RNA.
Human accelerated region 1 (HAR1) is a short DNA region identified recently to have evolved the most rapidly among highly constrained regions since the divergence from our common ancestor with chimpanzee. It is transcribed as part of a noncoding RNA specifically expressed in the developing human neocortex. Employing a panoply of enzymatic and chemical probes, our analysis of HAR1 RNA proposed a secondary structure model differing from that published. Most surprisingly, we discovered that the substitutions between the chimpanzee and human sequences led the human HAR1 RNA to adopt a cloverleaf-like structure instead of an extended and unstable hairpin in the chimpanzee sequence. Thus, the rapid evolutionary changes resulted in a profound rearrangement of HAR1 RNA structure. Altogether, our results provide a structural context for elucidating HAR1 RNA function.
Beniaminov
Artemy
A
Westhof
Eric
E
Krol
Alain
A
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000235:genetics*; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000737:chemistry*
D022661:RNA, Untranslated