title: Molecular evolution of the HBII-52 snoRNA cluster.
abstract: HBII-52 is a human brain-specific C/D box snoRNA that potentially regulates the editing and/or alternative splicing of the serotonin receptor. Forty-two nearly identical copies of the HBII-52 gene are located immediately downstream of the SNRPN protein-coding gene in an imprinted locus associated with Prader-Willi syndrome. Other eutherian mammals, with genomic assemblies covering the corresponding locus, also have multiple orthologous copies of HBII-52. The SNRPB gene, which is known to have given rise to SNRPN through gene duplication, expresses a C/D box snoRNA, SNORD119, from its fifth intron. Here we show that, despite the fact that they lie in different positions relative to the orthologous SNRPB/SNRPN coding sequences, there are significant sequence similarities between SNORD119 and HBII-52, including the antisense element and the stem-forming regions. By analysing these snoRNAs in marsupial and eutherian mammal genomes, we reconstruct the likely evolutionary history of the HBII-52 cluster and SNORD119 and suggest that they have evolved from a common ancestor.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Satu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nahkuri
authors.forename: Ryan J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Taft
authors.forename: Darren J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Korbie
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Mattick
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010802:Phylogeny; D020537:RNA, Small Nucleolar / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins; D020537:RNA, Small Nucleolar