The evolution of spliced leader trans-splicing in nematodes.
Spliced leader trans-splicing occurs in many primitive eukaryotes including nematodes. Most of our knowledge of trans-splicing in nematodes stems from the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans and relatives, and from work with Ascaris. Our investigation of spliced leader trans-splicing in distantly related Dorylaimia nematodes indicates that spliced-leader trans-splicing arose before the nematode phylum and suggests that the spliced leader RNA gene complements in extant nematodes have evolved from a common ancestor with a diverse set of spliced leader RNA genes.
Pettitt
Jonathan
J
School of Medical Sciences, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, Scotland, UK.
Harrison
Neale
N
Stansfield
Ian
I
Connolly
Bernadette
B
Müller
Berndt
B
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008954:Models, Biological; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009348:Nematoda / Q000235:genetics*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010802:Phylogeny; D022821:RNA Splice Sites / Q000235:genetics; D020038:RNA, Spliced Leader / Q000235:genetics*; D020040:Trans-Splicing / Q000235:genetics*
D022821:RNA Splice Sites; D020038:RNA, Spliced Leader